12 Maoists arrested in Chhattisgarh

Twelve Maoists were arrested on Thursday in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, including those involved in the Rani Bodli camp attack and the murder of sub-inspector. Three of them had rewards on their head.

Meanwhile, the state police said that at least 134 Maoists were killed, 877 arrested and 1,195 had surrendered in the Bastar region this year.

Announcing the arrests of the Maoists, Inspector General, Bastar, S.R.P Kalluri and Bijapur Superintendent of Police K.L. Dhruv said this came under the anti-Maoist campaign launched in Bijapur.

Police patrols apprehended the Maoists in raids on various villages, they added.

According to the officials, an interrogation of the ultras revealed that they were working as platoon and militia members in the National Park area and had been involved in the Rani Bodli camp attack, murder of Sub Inspector Nilesh Pandey, road blockages and other crimes.

Among the held, Mahangu Taati, and Chinna Telam had a Rs 5,000 reward for their arrest while Kartami Mahadev had a Rs 3,000 reward on his head.

According to the police statistics, there were 186 gun fights between the police and insurgents in 2016, of which the maximum were in Bijapur (55), followed by Sukma (46) and the least in Kondagaon (13) and Bastar (12) districts.

Sukma saw the maximum killing of rebels (41) in gunfights while the least number was reported from Kanker (three).

--IANS

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