Bijapur (Chhattisgarh) [India], June 17 (HBTV): A top Naxal leader carrying a bounty of INR 45 lakh was killed during an encounter with security forces in the National Park area of Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, officials said.

According to Bijapur police, the Naxal leader was identified as Bhaskar Rao, alias Mailarapu Adellu and Mandugula Bhaskar Rao.

Inspector General of Bastar Range, P Sundarraj, stated that Rao’s body was recovered from the encounter site, along with an AK-47 rifle, explosives, and other weapons. He added that the search operation is ongoing to trace other Naxals believed to be hiding in the area.

Rao was the Secretary of the Mancherial-Komarambheem (MKB) division of the Telangana State Committee of the CPI (Maoist) and served as a Special Zonal Committee (SZC) member. A native of Urumadla village in Telangana’s Adilabad district, he carried a total bounty of INR 45 lakh—INR 25 lakh announced by the Chhattisgarh government and INR 20 lakh by the Telangana government.

His death follows the killing of another senior Naxal leader, Sudhakar alias Gautam, a Central Committee Member (CCM) of the CPI (Maoist), who was found dead in the same forest area a day earlier. An AK-47 rifle was also recovered from him.

Gautam was neutralised on Thursday, June 5, during an operation in Bijapur’s national forest area. His killing marked another major success in the sustained counter-insurgency operations by security forces in Bastar.

This incident is the third major blow to the Naxal hierarchy in just over three weeks. On May 21, security forces recovered the body of Central Committee Politburo member and CPI (Maoist) General Secretary Basava Raju during a large-scale operation in the Abujmarh region of Narayanpur district, in which 26 other Naxals were also killed. Raju was considered the ‘backbone of the Naxal movement’.

‘On May 21, after the recovery of the body of CPI (Maoist) leader, Central Committee Politburo member and CPI (Maoist) General Secretary Basava Raju in Abujmarh forest, today on 5th June, security forces received a huge success in anti-Naxal operation,’ officials stated.

Security forces also recovered another AK-47 rifle, along with arms, ammunition, and explosive materials, from the site of the latest encounter.

‘In the Bijapur national park area, inputs regarding the presence of CPI (Maoist) senior cadres and PLG cadres were received. Based on this, joint teams of the STF, DRG, and CoBRA were sent for the operation. During the mission, multiple exchanges of fire occurred between security forces and Naxals. Upon search after the exchange, the body of a Maoist, an AK-47 weapon, and a large cache of explosives, arms, and ammunition were recovered,’ the statement added.

The encounter was part of a joint operation involving the Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Guard (DRG), and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA).

(ANI)