Chhattisgarh: 32 Maoists killed, 279 arrested in 2022; 408 surrendered

In all, 32 Maoists were killed and 279 arrested in 62 encounters with police and other armed forces in the Bastar range of Chhattisgarh, as part of the anti-naxal campaign in 2022. Besides, 408 Maoists surrendered during the year, a Bastar police statement said on Friday.

The anti-naxal campaign was discussed in detail at a state-level coordination committee meeting held in Jagdalpur on Friday under the chairmanship of Chhattisgarh director general of police (DGP) Ashok Juneja. It was further informed during the meeting that 60 arms and 120 improvised explosive devices (IED) were seized during the campaign through the year.

The surrendered Maoists were being provided economic aid and other facilities under the rehabilitation policy of the Chhattisgarh government, the meeting was told.

During the year, 18 new security camps were set up in the Naxal-infested remote areas. These camps are providing security for the construction of various infrastructures including roads, bridges and culverts in these remote areas. The camps were set up at Nambi, Etepal, Pusnar in Bijapur district; Potakpalli, Dabbakonta, Elmagunda, Pedmel, Kunded in district Sukma; Chandameta and Kantabaans in district Bastar; Hiroli, Kamalur in district Dantewada; Kuenmari, Kudur in district Kondagaon; Dhodhribeda in district Narayanpur and Padhargaon, Arra and Chilparas in district Kanker, the Bastar police statement said.

The coordination meeting was attended by additional director general (DG) of police Vivekanand, additional DG of Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) Vitul Kumar, additional DG of Border Security Forces (BSF) Anurag Garg, inspector general (IG) of Bastar range Sundarraj P., IG CRPF Saket Kumar Singh, IG of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Sanjeev Raina, IG BSF Indraj Singh and senior police officials including deputy IGs and superintendents of police (SPs).

Encounter on Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border

Bodies of two suspected Maoists, including a woman Maoist, were found and another injured person – also suspected to be a Maoist – was arrested following an encounter in the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border area in district Bijapur of Chhattisgarh on Friday.

The encounter occurred on Friday morning in the Tekmeta forests under Farsegarh police station area when a joint team of district reserve guards (DRG), Bijapur of Chhattisgarh police and the C-60 combat team, Gadchiroli of Maharashtra police were on a combing operation in Tekmeta, Bade Kakler and Chhote Kakler areas.

Apart from arresting the injured Maoist, the joint team also recovered two SLR rifles and one musket from the encounter site. Additional forces sent for reinforcement have joined the searching in the surrounding areas, which was continuing till evening, the statement said.