Naxal commander killed in encounter

A hardcore Naxal, who was allegedly involved in blowing up an ambulance killing five CRPF personnel and two civilians during 2014 Lok Sabha poll in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, was today killed in a gun-battle with security forces, police said.

Maoists’ Jan-Militia commander, Arjun, was gunned down by a joint team of security forces in the forests of Chandometa under Darbha police station limits of the district this morning, Inspector General of Police Bastar Range, SRP Kalluri, told PTI.

Composite forces of DRG (District Reserve Group), STF (Special Task Force) and district force was out on an operation since August 10 towards Chandometa bordering with Odisha’s Tulsi village which is considered a naxal den, he said.

Chandometa is located around 55 kms away from Darbha police station of Bastar, which lies at a distance of about 370 kms from the state capital Raipur.

Today, when security forces were cordoning off forests on a hill, a gun-battle broke out between both the sides after a group of cadres opened fire at them, the IG said, adding, the encounter lasted for about an hour following which some rebels escaped.

During searches, body of a male Maoist besides firearm and various other naxal-related items were recovered from the spot, he added.

The body of the deceased was identified with the help of villagers as Arjun, the dreaded Jan Militia commander of Chandometa and member of Machhkot LOS (Local Organisation Squad), he said.

Due to consistent and intense operations carried out by police and paramilitary forces over the past few months in Darbha region, Naxalites have disintegrated considerably from their hubs like Chandometa, Koleng and Mundagarh and the region is almost free from the clutches of Maoist menace, Kalluri claimed.

Arjun was mainly involved in blowing up a 108 Sanjeevani Express (express ambulance service) on April 2, 2014 in Darbha area in which five CRPF jawans and two ambulance staffs were killed, murder of former Sarpach of Koelng Panduram Nag (2015) and the recent murder of a villager in Kadanar village on August 10, the IG said. Earlier, two Maoists were killed by security forces in the same Chandometa forests of Darbha on August 1 this year.