Bijapur encounter: 28 of 31 slain Maoists identified, 17 of them senior Naxal cadres

Raipur: Twenty eight out of 31 Maoists slain in the February nine encounter with security forces in a forest falling under Indravati National Park (INP) in Bijapur district in south Bastar of Chhattisgarh have so far been identified, police said on Thursday.

The 28 deceased ultras cumulatively carried a bounty of Rs 1.15 crore, Bijapur district superintendent of police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said.

Of them, 17 were senior Maoist cadres.

This was perhaps the first time so many senior Maoist cadres were killed in one encounter in Bastar, a senior police officer said.

One of them was identified as Hunga Karma, secretary of west Bastar division who was in the rank of divisional committee member and carried a reward of Rs eight lakh.

He had allegedly masterminded at least four major attacks on security forces in south Bastar in the last two decades.

While nine other slain Maoists were in the rank of area committee member (ACM) carrying a bounty of Rs five lakh each, seven other deceased Naxals were in the rank of Platform Party Committee Member (PPCM) carrying a reward of Rs five lakh each.

Huge cache of weapons including AK 47, Self-Loaded Rifle (SLR) and INSAS rifle were recovered at the encounter site.

“Of the recovered weapons, one AK 47, one INSAS rifle and one .303 rifle have been identified. They were looted from jawans at different places in Bastar by the Maoists”, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj told this newspaper.

In the current year so far, 77 weapons were recovered in the separate encounters in Bastar, he said.

The recovered weapons comprised two AK 47s, five SLRs, two INSAS rifles and three .303 rifles.

According to him, a total 286 weapons were recovered in separate encounters in Bastar in 2024.

They comprised three light machine guns (LMGs), ten AK 47s, 11 SLRs, nine INSAS rifles and 15 numbers of .303 rifles.