Naxal commander with Rs 1 crore bounty among 14 ultras killed in encounter in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband

In a major security operation, more than 14 Naxalites were killed in an encounter with police in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district on Tuesday. Jai Ram alias Chalpathy, a Maoist commander, who was a carrying an Rs 1 crore bounty on his head, was among the 14 ultras killed in a fierce exchange of fire at Chhattisgarh-Odisha border.

“This is one of the biggest encounters of the country as a Central Committee (CC) Member of banned Maoist organisation identified as Jai Ram alias Chalpathy has been killed. Usually the central committee members either die a natural death or rarely get arrested. Killing of a CC member in an encounter is a big achievement,” SP Rakhecha told Times of India (TOI).

Earlier on Monday, two women Naxalites were killed and one CoBRA jawan was injured in an encounter during the same operation.

An official said a fresh exchange of fire took place late on Monday night and early Tuesday morning in a forest under the Mainpur police station area along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, news agency PTI reported.

He said a joint team of security personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), CoBRA from Chhattisgarh and Special Operation Group (SOG) from Odisha were involved in the operation.

The official said the operation was launched on the night of January 19 based on intelligence about the presence of Maoists in the Kularighat reserve forest of Chhattisgarh, just 5 km from the border of Odisha's Nuapada district.

Two women Naxalites were neutralised during the operation on Monday, and a large cache of firearms, ammunition and IEDs, including a self-loading rifle, were recovered from the encounter site, the official said.

The number of Maoist casualties may increase, he said.