Bodies of three Maoists, including a woman cadre, were recovered from the site, along with a self-loading rifle (SLR), a .303 rifle, a 12-bore gun and other Naxalite-related materials, the SP said.
Forty-one Naxalites, including 32 carrying a reward of Rs 1.19 crore, surrendered in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, citing the government's surrender policy and rehabilitation efforts.
Qadri Javed Azad and Makwana Kumar are on a 2,000 km expedition from Porbandar to Pahalgam to spread the message of peace, unity and Operation Sindoor.
'Sujatha's decision to surrender reflects the deep crisis of confidence that the Maoist ranks are facing in recent times.'
With this incident, 154 Naxalites have been gunned down by the security forces in different encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year, the police said.
Seven more Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire with police in Andhra Pradesh, a day after six Maoists were gunned down in the same area. The operation took place in Maredumilli, Alluri Sitaramaraju district. One of the deceased was identified as Meturi Jokha Rao alias Tech Shankar, a key figure in the Maoist movement.
Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma met surrendered Naxalites at a rehabilitation center in Sukma, offering them a visit to the state assembly and directing officials to improve their living conditions and opportunities.
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.
Top Naxalite commander Madvi Hidma, who had masterminded several attacks over the last two decades, was killed in an encounter in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, a breakthrough Chhattisgarh Police described as the 'last nail in the coffin' of the insurgency.
An ultra-Left students' outfit, RSF, has triggered a row by symbolically naming the venue of its state conference after Maoist leaders killed by security forces. The conference was held at Jadavpur University.
The Supreme Court has directed the Chhattisgarh police to preserve the body of top Maoist commander Katha Ramchandra Reddy, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter. The court has instructed that the body not be buried or cremated until the high court decides on the plea alleging a fake encounter and torture.
Security forces have established a new camp in the Karregutta Hills along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, a former Naxal stronghold, following a major anti-Naxal operation.
It had organised its 83rd anniversary event last year in Jammu after the government asked all paramilitary or CAPF to hold these events outside the national capital.
Three senior leaders of the banned CPI (Maoist) surrendered to the Telangana police. The leaders cited health issues, ideological differences, and changing socio-political circumstances as reasons for their surrender. The Telangana DGP appealed to other underground Maoist cadres to return to the mainstream.
As many as 14 Maoists were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Friday, a senior police official said. However, ANI has put the toll at 30.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted his commitment to eradicating Maoist terror from India, criticizing the previous Congress regime for allegedly supporting 'urban Naxals' and ignoring the violence they perpetrated. He highlighted the significant reduction in Maoist-affected districts and the surrender of numerous Naxalites as evidence of his government's success in combating the issue.
Former Chhattisgarh minister Nanki Ram Kanwar alleges house arrest for planning a protest against a district collector, while the government denies the claim. The opposition Congress party criticizes the government's actions.
Originally hailing from Andhra Pradesh, the 67-year-old was involved in indoctrination and radicalization of youth and also responsible for numerous Maoist attacks in Chhattisgarh, resulting in the death of civilians and security personnel, they said.
Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dinesh Kashyap on Friday defeated his nearest rival Lakhma Kawasi of the Congress by over 85,000 votes to win the bypoll to the Naxal-hit Bastar Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh. Election officials in Bastar district said Kashyap defeated Kawasi by over 85,000 votes to win the tribal-dominated constituency spread over four districts
The administration has introduced 'Maidan Cup' in collaboration with the Mann Deshi Foundation and Sachin Tendulkar Foundation, under which 50 playgrounds will be developed in Dantewada to boost sports culture and talent.
The skirmish took place in the forest near Mangnar village under Barsur police station limits, he said.
Eight District Reserve Guards (DRG) jawans and a civilian driver were killed in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district when Naxals detonated an improvised explosive device targeting their vehicle. The incident occurred near Ambeli village while the security personnel were returning from an anti-Naxalite operation. This is the biggest Naxal attack on security forces in the region in the past two years.
Setting up new camps of security forces in these villages in the last seven months has been paving the way for development of the respective areas, they said.
The two priority regions for the Chhattisgarh government to promote its homestay policy are Surguja and Bastar.
This is the third big success in the past fortnight for security forces pushing relentlessly against the Maoists with the aim of ending the menace by March 2026.
'The biggest game changer has been the belief among Maoists that they can surrender and join the mainstream'
A hill with an altitude of 5,000 feet, once a hub of the Maoists along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, was reclaimed by the security forces after driving out the extremists following nine days of intense anti-Naxal operation, official sources said.
Maoists have admitted that 28 cadres, including their top leader Basavaraju, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region last week. The Naxals also claimed that some of their cadres had surrendered to police and provided information that led to the operation. Police have recovered a large cache of weapons, including an AK-47 looted by Basavaraju from security forces in a 2010 ambush.
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.
Heads rolled in the Chhattisgarh police administration on Tuesday with the government suspending Bastar Superintendent of Police Mayank Shrivasta and shunting out Bastar range Inspector General of Police Himanshu Gupta, in the wake of the Maoist attack on Congress leaders.
Three jawans of the Chhattisgarh police were killed and four others injured on Friday in an ambush set up by Naxals in Bastar district, a senior police official said in Raipur. Bastar Superintendent of Police Ratan Lal Dangi told PTI over the phone that the incident took place near Netanar village on Friday morning. The police team, from Darbha station, was heading for the village after receiving a report that Naxals had vandalised a guest house of the forest department.
The meeting will focus on the current internal security scenario in the state, with a special emphasis on anti-Maoist operations, the release added.
Altogether seven firearms have been recovered from the encounter site, he said.
A massive anti-Naxal operation involving around 10,000 security personnel along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border entered its fifth day on Friday, with the Maoists reportedly issuing a statement calling for a halt to the exercise and initiating "peace talks." The statement, circulating on social media, claims that the government is resorting to repression and violence despite the possibility of resolving the issue through dialogue. The operation, considered one of the largest counter-insurgency actions in the Bastar region, involves personnel from various units including the Chhattisgarh police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and its elite CoBRA unit. The operation, launched on Monday in the densely forested hills of Karregutta and Durgamgutta along the inter-state border, is aimed at targeting PLGA battalion No. 1, the strongest military formation of the Maoists.
Chalapathi, a top leader of the CPI(Maoist) and a key figure in the 2008 Nayagarh armoury attack in Odisha, was killed in a gunfight with security forces at the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border. He was one of 14 Maoists killed in the encounter, which lasted for two days. Chalapathi, who had been a mystery to security agencies for decades, was eventually identified through a selfie with his wife, Aruna, found in an abandoned smartphone. He was considered an expert in military tactics and guerrilla warfare and had played a significant role in expanding the Maoist network in Odisha.
The Naxalites, 10 of whom are women, turned themselves in before senior officials of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), he added.
The gunfight broke out in the morning hours in a forest under the Kerlapal police station area where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Maoist operation, an official said.
Sexual intercourse, including unnatural act, by a man with his adult wife, even without her consent, can not be treated as an offence, the Chhattisgarh high court held while acquitting a Jagdalpur resident who was convicted of rape and other charges.
'Many of them are mutilated beyond recognition. Every day an encounter takes place.' 'Bastar has been burnt to ash.'
The 31 ultras killed in the February 9 encounter in Bijapur in Chhattisgarh included the mastermind of the January 6 IED blast in which eight security personnel and a civilian lost their lives and several other deadly attacks, a police official said. Among the 31 ultras killed in the encounter was Hunga Karma, who was secretary of the west Bastar division of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head. He was the mastermind of the January 6 attack on security personnel. Karma also masterminded the 2006 Murkinar camp attack in which 11 police personnel were killed as well as the 2007 Ranibodli camp attack in which 55 security personnel were killed. Of the 31 killed ultras, 28, including 17 men and 11 women, have been identified and they carried a cumulative reward of Rs 1.10 crore on their heads. Out of the 81 Naxalites gunned down in the state so far this year, 65 were killed in the Bastar division, which comprises Bijapur and six other districts. So far this year, 77 firearms, including two AK-47 rifles, five Self Loading Rifles (SLR) and two INSAS rifles and three.303 rifles, have been recovered following separate encounters in Bastar region, the IG informed.
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