Raipur/Bhubaneswar: Fourteen Naxals, including a top CPI (Maoists) leader who was carrying a reward of Rs 1 crore, were killed in a joint operation by central and state police forces along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah Tuesday termed the encounter as “another mighty blow to Naxalism” and asserted the Narendra Modi government’s resolve for a Naxal-free India and the joint efforts of the security forces to eliminate the menace from the country.
Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district superintendent of police Nikhil Rakhecha said of the deceased, one has been identified as Ramachandra Reddy alias Jairam alias Chalpati, a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist), who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 crore. He hailed from Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
The identity of the remaining cadres was yet to be ascertained.
Inspector General of Police, Raipur Range Amresh Mishra told PTI that 14 Naxalites were killed during the operation and intermittent exchange of firing was still underway in the area and more details are expected Wednesday.
On Monday, a CoBRA commando was injured, while a jawan belonging to the SOG of Odisha Police sustained injuries Tuesday, Mishra said.
Both injured personnel have been admitted at a hospital in Raipur and their condition was reported to be stable, he said.
Shah wrote on X: “Another mighty blow to Naxalism. Our security forces achieved major success towards building a Naxal-free Bharat. The CRPF, SoG Odisha, and Chhattisgarh Police neutralised 14 Naxalites in a joint operation along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border. With our resolve for a Naxal-free India and the joint efforts of our security forces, Naxalism is breathing its last today.”
Giving details of the incident, police said two women Naxalites were killed during a joint operation Monday along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border. A large cache of firearms, ammunition and IEDs, including a self-loading rifle, were recovered from the encounter site.
A fresh exchange of firing took place late Monday night and it continued till early hours of Tuesday in a forest under the Mainpur police station areas (Chhattisgarh) along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, in which 12 more Naxalites were gunned down.
With this, the total number of Maoists killed in the operation went up to 14, police said.
The number of Maoist casualties may increase, they said.
A joint team of security personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of the Chhattisgarh Police, CoBRA commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel from the Odisha Police were involved in the operation.
The operation was launched on the night of January 19 based on intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in the Kularighat reserve forest of Chhattisgarh, just 5 km from the border of Odisha’s Nuapada district.
Hailing the security forces, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said under the BJP-led double-engine government, the state will get rid of the menace by March 2026.
He said strengthening the resolve of Prime Minister Modi and the union home minister to end Naxalism in the country by March 2026, the security forces have been continuously achieving success and moving rapidly towards fulfilling the target.
“This success of the soldiers is commendable. I salute their bravery,” he said.
According to a press release of Odisha Police, two Maoist women cadres were neutralised in the operation on Monday. Further exchange of fire continued Tuesday and which 12 Maoists — nine male and three women — have been killed.
Massive amount of arms, ammunition and IEDs have been seized. These include one SLR, two 303 rifle, 1 INSAS, 4 magazines, 8 country-made weapons, 10 live rounds etc and other incriminating articles, the release said.
Forty Naxalites have been killed in separate gun fights in Chhattisgarh this year.
On January 16, as many as 12 Naxalites were killed by security forces in Bijapur district. Later, Maoists, in a statement, admitted that 18 cadres were killed in the January 16 gunfight.
Last year, 219 Naxalites were neutralised by security forces in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh.
In Odisha, in 2024, six Maoists were killed, eight have been arrested and 24 Maoists have surrendered.
According to the home ministry data, so far this year, 48 Naxals were killed in all Naxal affected states, 290 killed in 2024 and 50 in 2023.
The government has also established 290 camps of security forces in Naxal affected areas since 2019 and 88 more are proposed to be set up in 2025.
PTI