Raipur, Nov 18 (PTI) Five Naxalites killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region last week were senior cadres carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 28 lakh, a senior police official said on Monday.
Police on Saturday claimed five Naxalites, including two women, were gunned down in an encounter with security personnel during a joint anti-Naxal operation in the Abhujmaad area along the Narayanpur-Kanker inter-district border.
Of them, woman cadre Vanoja Micha Karam, a divisional committee member, carried a bounty of Rs 8 lakh, Kanker Superintendent of Police Indira Kalyan Elesela said.
The other deceased included Suresh Gavde, an area committee member, and party members Santosh Kurchami, Manish Padda and Punita, he said, adding that they carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh each.
The official said the security personnel recovered an SLR (Self-Loading Rifle), an INSAS rifle, a 12-bore rifle and a .315-bore rifle, a barrel grenade launcher (BGL) and a huge cache of explosives items from the encounter site.
While returning from the operation, the security forces on Sunday recovered two IEDs planted by Naxalites and neutralised them, he said.
According to police, this year alone, bodies of 197 Naxalites have been recovered in separate encounters in the Bastar division, comprising Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma districts.