4 Naxals With ₹17 Lakh Bounty Killed in Chhattisgarh Encounter

Four Maoists, including two women, carrying a collective bounty of ₹17 lakh, were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in a forest area of Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. The gunfight broke out on Saturday evening when a team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was conducting an anti-Naxal operation.

The operation was launched based on specific intelligence about the presence of Maoists in the border forests between Basaguda and Gangalur police station limits. According to Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Yadav, the security team came under fire from the Naxals, leading to an intermittent exchange of gunfire that resulted in the neutralisation of the four cadres.

The deceased Maoists were identified as senior members of the South Sub Zonal Bureau. Three of them were Area Committee Members (ACM) – Hunga, Lakhe, and Bhime – each carrying a reward of ₹5 lakh. The fourth, Nihal alias Rahul, was a party member and bodyguard who had a ₹2 lakh bounty on his head.

Following the encounter, security forces conducted a search of the area and recovered a significant cache of weapons and explosives. The seized items include one SLR, one INSAS rifle, one .303 rifle, a 12-bore gun, a Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL), and a large quantity of explosive materials.

Sources indicate that the operation is still ongoing, and security personnel remain on high alert in the region. This incident marks another significant success for security forces in the state’s long-standing fight against Left-Wing Extremism