At least 14 Maoists have been killed in a joint interstate operation at the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border. Central Committee member of Naxalites Jairam alias Chalpati was also killed in this encounter. A reward of 1 crore rupees was declared on him.
Additional Director General (Naxal Operations) of Chhattisgarh Vivekanand Sinha said that the operation was conducted in the border areas of Gariabandh district of Chhattisgarh and Nuapada district of Odisha. The intermittent exchange of fire between security forces and Maoists continued for more than 36 hours.
The encounter began on Monday and is still on. Gariaband SP Nikhil Rakhecha confirmed to TOI that 14 Maoists have been killed in a joint operation by Chhattisgarh’s District Reserve Guards, CRPF, CoBRA, and Odisha’s Special Operation Group (SOG).
“This is one of the biggest encounters in the country as a Central Committee (CC) member of the banned Maoist organization, Jai Ram alias Chalpathy, has been killed. Usually central committee members either die a natural death or rarely get arrested. Killing a CC member in an encounter is a big achievement,” said SP Rakhecha.
There were weapons including AK 47, SLR, INSAS and other automatic weapons recovered from the site of encounter.
