At least 29 Maoists were killed and at least three jawans also sustained injuries during an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district on Tuesday. The incident comes just days before the commencement of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Speaking to the news agency ANI, senior police officer IK Elesela said that the encounter is still underway in the region.
The voting in Kanker is scheduled to take place on April 26.
Top Naxal commander killed
SP Indra Kalyan Elisela confirmed the death of Naxalites in the encounter, including a prominent Naxal commander named Shankar Rao. He had a reward of Rs 25 lakh on his head. Additionally, a significant cache of weapons, including four AK-47 rifles, was seized during the operation.
The gunfight took place at around 2 pm in Hapatola forest between Binagunda and Koronar villages under Chhotebethiya police station limits, when a joint team of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the state's District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-Naxal operation, a senior police official said.
"Today a team was sent to the Kanker district after receiving the info of the presence of senior cadres of CPI Maoist. During the search, an encounter broke out between the security personnel and Naxals. Till now the bodies of 29 CPI Maoist cadres have been recovered... Huge arms and ammunition have been recovered... All the injured security personnel are under treatment...This could be seen as one of the biggest encounters till now in the state..." said IG Bastar P Sunddaraj.
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