Apart from those wearing the number 23 Delhi Daredevils jersey with Gambhir printed on the back, there were 21 others who would have loved to see Gambhir play on Friday.
Last rites of CRPF jawanas killed in the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Sukma, were conducted with full state honours.
16 weapons, including 315 bore and 12 bore guns, were recovered from the spot.
Freed by Naxals after 12 days in captivity, Collector Alex Paul Menon on Friday reached his home in Sukma.
An injured jawan said around 10-12 Naxalites must have got killed in the 'befitting' retaliation by the CRPF contingent.
Two Naxals were also gunned down in these face-offs.
The Naxals used over 50 kilogram of explosives in Chhattisgarh's Sukma, about a year after a dozen jawans were killed in a similar ambush in the district.
He said he would possibly go to Sukma on Wednesday.
After 12 days in captivity, Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon was on Thursday released unharmed by Maoists bringing to an end the hostage crisis in Chattisgarh marked by some anxious moments just before he stepped out of the rebel stronghold.
Police personnel checked vehicles and conducted flag marches at various places in Punjab on Wednesday while central forces maintained a tight vigil in Tripura.
Here is the timeline of major Naxal attacks in Chhattisgarh.
Eight Naxalites and a jawan of the Special Task Force (STF) were killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Saturday, police said.
According to the police, these villages have never seen unfurling or hoisting of the national flag since 1947, but that will change when its residents will join the rest of the country in celebrating Republic Day, which commemorates the day when the Constitution came into effect in 1950.
India has received 20 per cent less rainfall since the start of the monsoon period on June 1, with the rain-bearing system making no significant progress between June 12 and 18, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The police on Saturday claimed to have gunned down eight Maoists during an encounter in forests near Kutul-Farasbeda and Kodtameta villages in the district.
Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon, who was recently set free by Maoists after 12 days of captivity in Chhattisgarh, on Wednesday met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and thanked her for urging the Centre to take steps for his release.
The jawans are helping farmers in ploughing their fields
The incident took place in the morning under Jagargunda police station area when a team of the CRPF's 165th battalion was out on an anti-Maoist operation, a police official said.
A cache of explosives and weapons was also seized from the encounter site, he added.
"I feel happy as a parrot that has just been let off from a cage," said Varadhas, father of Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon, who was released after being held in captivity by Maoists for 13 days.
A Chhattisgarh Armed Force jawan was killed by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district on Saturday. Constable Shivkumar Sidar was unwell for the last few days and was going for treatment to Dornpal from Temelwada in a bus where he was abducted by a group of Maoists and was killed, Inspector General, Bastar Range SRP Kalluri, said.
Twelve constituencies of Bastar division were among 20 assembly segments in Chhattisgarh that went to the polls in the first phase on November 7. A high voter turnout of 78 per cent was recorded in these 20 seats.
Avenging the Sukma attack, security forces claim to have gunned down 12-15 Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Basaguda-Chintalnar area on Sunday.
Among the three slain personnel, two belonged to the CoBRA's 201st battalion and one to the CRPF's 150th battalion, a senior police officer said.
In the first phase covering 20 of the total 90 assembly seats, 223 candidates, including 25 women, are in the fray and as per electoral rolls, 40,78,681 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
This post Office in Bengaluru has been constructed using 3D printing technology.
A CoBRA company has about 100 personnel each.
Officials said while two commandos, identified as constables Linju N and Fateh Singh had succumbed to their bullet injuries on Thursday, their collegaue Lakshman Singh died on Friday.
Acting Director General of the CRPF, Sudeep Lakhtakia said the ambush has "naturally called for the revision of standard operating procedures" in these areas.
Single-phase voting was held in Mizoram on Tuesday, while 20 constituencies in Chhattisgarh voted in the first phase of assembly elections in the state.
A joint team of multiple forces are undertaking the offensive to target some senior and most-wanted Naxal commanders, official sources said.
A jawan of the special task force of state police was killed in an encounter with the Naxals in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district on Saturday. The encounter took place at Kondre village under Gadiras police station limits, 400 km from Raipur, Additional Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told PTI.
Of the ten police personnel who lost their lives in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, five had joined the force after quitting Maoist violence, a senior official said on Thursday.
Three battalions of the Border Security Force comprising more than 3,000 personnel will move across the border from Odisha to Chhattisgarh and an equal number of Indo-Tibetan Border Police units will further move into the Naxal stronghold of Abujhmad as part of a strategy to intensify anti-Maoist operations in their last bastions, official sources said.
Voting for 10 constituencies was held from 7 am to 3 pm in 10 seats and from 8 am to 5 pm in the rest 10 segments under a thick security blanket of police and paramilitary personnel in the Naxalite-hit Bastar division.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
He accused Naxalites of using tribal villagers as a shield.
Bhatnagar is expected to take charge of the CRPF later this week as he is on an official assignment in Indonesia in the capacity of NCB DG.
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Naxalites blew up the mini-goods van in which the security personnel were travelling by using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), police sources said.
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