Naxal leader Bhaskar with ₹45 lakh bounty killed in Chhattisgarh encounter

This is the third major success for security forces in the last two weeks, as they intensify efforts to wipe out Naxal insurgency by March 2026

Top Naxalite leader Bhaskar, who had a collective bounty of ₹45 lakh on his head, was killed during an encounter with security forces in Indravati National Park in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh, on Friday, a senior police official confirmed, citing “preliminary identification of body.”

 

The operation was part of an ongoing anti-Naxal mission launched on Wednesday, involving personnel from the Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) of the state police, along with the CRPF’s specialised unit CoBRA, said Sundarraj, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range.

 

“After the exchange of fire stopped, the body of a Naxalite along with one AK-47 rifle and other explosives, weapons, and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site. Preliminary identification suggests the body is of Bhaskar alias Mailarapu Adellu, a special zonal committee (SZC) member of the Telangana State Committee (TSC) of the outlawed Maoists,” the IG stated. 

 

Bhaskar, originally from Adilabad district in Telangana, served as the secretary of the Mancherial-Komarambheem (MKB) division of the Telangana State Committee of the Maoists. “He carried a reward of ₹25 lakh in Chhattisgarh and ₹20 lakh in Telangana,” Sundarraj added. 

 

Three major successes in two weeks

 

This marks the third significant victory for security forces in the past fortnight, as part of a concerted push to eliminate Naxal activity with the goal of ending the insurgency by March 2026.

 

Just a day earlier, on Thursday, senior Maoist leader Narasimha Chalam alias Sudhakar, who had a bounty of ₹40 lakh on him, was killed in an encounter in the same area, according to police.

 

Sudhakar, originally from Andhra Pradesh, was a 67-year-old leader heavily involved in indoctrinating and radicalising youth, as well as orchestrating several Naxal attacks in Chhattisgarh. These attacks had resulted in the deaths of both civilians and security personnel, the police said.

 

On May 21, one of the most prominent Maoist leaders, Communist Party of India (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju (70), was neutralised by security forces during an operation in Narayanpur, located in the Bastar region