Four jawans also injured in the gun battle with the rebels
Team News Riveting
Jagdalpur, March 29
Security forces gunned down 18 Maoists including 11 women cadre in twin encounters that took place in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma and Bijapur districts in the Bastar region on Saturday.
The breakthrough came on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Chhattisgarh on Sunday. It is also seen as another major success in the mission to eradicate Left Wing Extremism (LWE) before March 31, 2026.
According to officials, four jawans were injured in the encounter in which 17 rebels, including a high-ranking Maoist, identified as Kuhdami Jagdish, were killed. Jagdish, who was wanted in more than a dozen deadly Maoists incidents, including the 2013 Jhiram Valley attack that left several Congress leaders dead, was carrying a reward of Rs 25 lakh on his head.
Another encounter was reported from the neighbouring Bijapur district where one Maoist was killed. Among the four injured security personnel, three belong to the District Reserve Guard (DRG), a unit of the state police besides a jawan from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The injured jawans have been admitted to a hospital, and their condition was stated to be normal, he said.
Bastar Inspector General of Police Sundarraj P said the gunfight broke out around 8 am in the forest under the Kerlapal police station area in Sukma district, where a joint team of security personnel was out on an operation based on intelligence inputs. The personnel from the DRG and CRPF’s 159th battalion were part of the operation launched on Friday night.
After the exchange of fire, bodies of 17 Maoists including 11 women were recovered from the encounter site during the search operation. A large cache of firearms, including an AK-47 rifle, self-loading rifle (SLR), INSAS rifle, .303 rifle, a rocket launcher and barrel grenade launcher (BGL), and explosive materials were recovered from the spot, Sundarraj said.
Of the killed cadres, seven have been identified so far, while efforts are underway to ascertain the identity of the others, he said. Kuhdami Jagdish, alias Budhra, a special zonal committee member of Maoists and secretary of Darbha division is among seven identified neutralised rebels, he said, adding that he carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh.
The six other deceased cadres include four area committee members of the Maoists, he said.
In Bijapur district, the gunfight between security forces and Naxalites broke out in a forest near Narsapur-Tekametla villages when a joint team of security personnel was out on an operation against LWE.
Personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and 210th battalion of CoBRA- an elite unit of CRPF were involved in the operation, he said. The body of a Naxalite and a weapon were recovered from the encounter site, he said, adding that the search operation was underway in the area.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah applauded the success of security forces and said those carrying weapons and resorting to violence cannot bring change but peace and development can. “Another strike on Naxalism! Our security agencies have neutralised 16 Naxalites and recovered a massive cache of automatic weapons in an operation in Sukma,” he wrote on ‘X’. The home minister said under the leadership of the Prime Minister, the government had resolved to eradicate LWE before March 31, 2026.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai congratulated the security forces for the major breakthrough in the on-going operation against the Maoists. He said the jawans were striking deep inside the Maoists den that showed their exemplary courage and dedication.
Just 10 days ago, security forces had gunned down 30 members of the banned CPI (Maoist) in two separate encounters in the Bijapur and Kanker districts. With the latest successes, 134 Naxalites have been gunned down in separate encounters in the state so far this year.
