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.
In a separate incident, a commando of the Central Reserve Police Force's jungle warfare unit CoBRA was injured when a pressure improvised explosive device (IED), planted by Naxalites went off in the district, police said.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar during the first day of review of poll preparedness of the state asked the district election officers and municipal commissioners to explain the steps taken by them to deal with 'urban apathy'.
The gunfight occurred in a forest near Hidur village under Chhotebethiya police station limits, where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxal operation, Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P said.
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.
Sundarraj said, "Security forces are in a dominating position."
'When I am doing a film, that film is not propaganda for me. That's a true thing.'
Altogether seven firearms have been recovered from the encounter site, he 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
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday approved 139 Padma awards including seven Padma Vibhushans, 19 Padma Bhushans and 113 Padma Shris.
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.
The skirmish took place in the forest near Mangnar village under Barsur police station limits, he said.
Naxal-hit Bastar, which goes to polls on Monday, is witnessing a stiff political battle with Congress going all out to wrest control from BJP of the region widely seen as a deciding factor in winning Chhattisgarh.
'Elections and audience interest in specific movies are often independent factors.'
A change in Maoist strategy by targetting vital installations like high tension transmission lines has added to the woes of Bastar tribals, who were trapped in the hostilities between the ultras and the security forces.
Six Naxalites, including "deputy commander" Punem Nagesh, his wife, and another female cadre, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Wednesday, a police officer said.
Nine Naxalites, including three women, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in a forest along the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, state's Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma said.
Deva recently replaced Hidma as commander of the Maoists' battalion no. 1, the IG added.
The next big releases -- Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Maidaan -- will arrive during Eid, which leaves a lot of time for Shaitaan to earn lifetime collections in the range of Rs 140-150 crore (Rs 1.4-1.5 billion).
The two tribal dominated divisions of Surguja and Bastar having 26 assembly seats that contributed hugely to the Congress' landslide victory in Chhattisgarh in 2018 have swung to the Bharatiya Janata Party this time.
Tovino catches up with Suriya and Karthi... Malavika misses the wilderness...Shamita discovers a new passion...
The anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region has been suspended in the wake of abduction of Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon.
Films that turned out to be box office disappointments.
'Overall it's time that the federation focuses on how to take Indian football forward. You cannot just have Vision 2046 on paper and not implement things.'
Files related to the organisation of a public hearing for environment and forest clearance for Tata Steel's proposed 5-million-tonne integrated steel plant in Bastar are "missing". The district administration said it has not received the documents that were sent from the state capital a month ago.
The incident took place on Wednesday night in Tarrem area when a joint team of security personnel was returning after an anti-Maoist operation in forests on the tri-junction of Bijapur-Sukma-Dantewada districts, a police official said in Bijapur.
A cache of explosives and weapons was also seized from the encounter site, he added.
The Maoist blast took place around 3 pm near Timmapuram village between Silger and Tekalgudem camps of security forces, over 400 km from the state capital Raipur.
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.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has expressed a desire to withdraw from all interior locations of the worst-hit Naxal area of Bastar in Chattisgarh, a move opposed by the state police. Official sources, who referred to this wish by CRPF, said the para-military force has also approached Chhattisgarh Police to provide security to its camps at Narayanpur where 27 security personnel were killed in a Naxal ambush recently.
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.
Jawan who killed 4 colleagues in Chhattisgarh suffered from emotional stress, said CRPF.
According to latest statistics of the Home ministry, the seven forces -- the CRPF, the Border Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Seema Sahastra Bal, the Central Industrial Security Forces, the National Security Guard and the Assam Rifles -- have lost 1,067 men in combat or counter-insurgency operations over a period of three years. But more than thrice -- as many as 3,611 personnel -- have died due to illnesses.
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
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.
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.
Banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist Tuesday claimed responsibility for the massacre of Congress leaders in Bastar region and demanded immediate suspension of all operations against it across the country.
As the comparison between 2014 and 2019 shows, the voter turnout is not only lower than in 2019 but also lower than in 2014 in some of the larger states where polling took place.
Of the 12 seats in Bastar, the Congress won eight. The BJP had secured 11 of these seats in 2008.
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