The Chhattisgarh Police today claimed to have eliminated Pallemadi local operation squad (LOS) of Maoists, believed to be involved in the massacre of 29 police personnel in Manpur area of this district in 2009 along with Madanwada LOS, after killing three hardcore cadres in an encounter last night.
The naxals, carrying varying cash rewards, were gunned down by a joint team of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and District Force in Kopenkadka village forest under Khadgaon police station of the district.
Pallemadi LOS was looking after Maoist activities in tri-junction forests of Rajnandgaon, Kanker and Balod districts, around 200 km away from the state capital Raipur.
"Security forces have achieved a major success as not only three top rebels were neutralised but as many sophisticated weapons were also recovered in the action," Inspector General of Police (Durg Range) Dipanshu Kabra told PTI.
With this encounter, as many as 10 rebels have been killed in separate encounters with police in Rajnandgaon so far this year, he said.
Among the three deceased cadres, Rakesh Dugga and Ranjit Nureti were active as commander and deputy commander of Pallemadi LOS, respectively.
Another deceased naxal Mahesh Potavi belonged to the Madanwada LOS of the same region, the IG said, adding that they all operated together.
"After the last night's action, the Pallemadi LOS has virtually finished off," he added.
The Pallemadi and Madanwada LOSs were instrumental in executing the deadly ambush in Manpur area of the district in 2009 wherein29 policemen, including then Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar Choubey, were killed, the IG said.
Potavi, who was expert in making improvised explosive device (IEDs) and repairing weapons, was part of the Maoists group which was involved Manpur incident, he said.
Besides, the deceased ultras were allegedly involved in other Maoist incidents, including the killing of the manager of Sarda iron ore mines in Pallemadi in March last year, the police officer said.
Notably, security forces have stepped up operations in the forests of Rajnanagdon bordering Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh and Gondia in Maharashtra after receiving reports few months back that naxals were trying to expand their base in this region.
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