The 10 Maoists killed in an encounter on Thursday in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district had a collective bounty of Rs 5.22 crore on them, officials said, adding that they included a member of the Maoists’ Central Committee, who was involved in the murders of an IPS officer and a minister.
Central Committee member Modem Balkrishna, also known as Manoj and Bhaskar, was among the 10 killed in Thursday’s encounter. Additional Director General of Police (Naxal operations), Vivekanand Sinha, said he had 18 cases against him, including the murder of former Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Alimineti Madhava Reddy and DIG K S Vyas.
Reddy was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in 2000 in Andhra Pradesh. According to police, Reddy was killed in response to a crackdown on Maoists ordered by him. DIG Vyas was shot dead while jogging at a stadium in Hyderabad. Vyas was credited with setting up the Greyhounds force, which played a major role in eradicating Maoism from Andhra Pradesh.
At a press conference on Friday, police officers said two Odisha State Committee Members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), identified as Pramod alias Pandu and Vimal alias Manganna, were among those killed.
Thursday’s encounter broke out in the afternoon on the Rajadera-Matal hills, under the jurisdiction of Mainpur police station. The police said a total of 10 weapons, including automatic weapons like AK-47s, SLRs and INSAS rifles, were seized.
ADGP Sinha said, “So far, security forces have killed the (CPI-Maoists’) general secretary and three CCMs (Central Committee members). This is a big achievement for us. All the forces, like Chhattisgarh Police, CRPF, ITBP and BSF, are working shoulder to shoulder to eradicate Naxalism. The encounter will have a huge impact in eradicating Naxalism from Gariaband and Dhamtari districts, and in the days to come, we will get to see more Naxals surrendering. We will get more information on their activities. Further, it will impact Naxal activities in other districts.”
