Not following usual routes, improved coordination between forces, and additional backup helped security personnel minimise risk and inflict more damage in the April 16 anti-Maoist operation in which 29 alleged Maoists were killed in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh.
“We made tactical adjustments drawing from our previous experiences that have helped us limit damage in this operation and the other recent ones including the Bijapur incident where 13 Maoists were killed. On each occasion, we effectively cordoned off the areas where Maoists were present,” said Inspector General (Bastar Police) P. Sundarraj, a day after the incident.
As many as 180 security personnel from the Border Security Force (BSF) and different constituents of the Bastar Police left the Chhotebetiya police station a night before the encounter and covered a distance of nearly 24 km before cornering the Maoists at a hill in Abujhmad area. Abujhmad, a security vacuum area and a Maoist stronghold, is spread across three districts of Bastar, all the way from Narayanpur-Kanker border to Bijapur and Dantewada. The area is also close to the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border.
Constant tracking
A member of the security team told The Hindu that they followed a zig-zag route and tracked the Maoist movement along the forested area and hilly terrain for hours, before zeroing in on their location at a hill near Kalpar village, 560 metres above the sea level. “It was around 2 p.m. that the gun battle started and it lasted for two hours. We surrounded them from all four sides and had a backup team which made their escape difficult and only a few who fled at the initial stages managed to escape,” he said.
Kalpar is among the several sparsely populated tribal hamlets that dot a hilly terrain of around 20 km. These villages on the other side of Kotri river can only be accessed through motorcycle or by foot and bear visible signs of insurgency. Lingaram, a resident of Akameta village in the area, claimed that his cousin brother Sukku was an active Naxalite who was killed in the April 16 encounter. In Kalwar and Aama Tola villages, one can spot memorials bearing pro-Maoist slogans. There are also posters put up against elections in different areas.
The process to identify the slain alleged members of CPI (Maoist) was on till Wednesday evening. So far, Shankar Rao and Lalita have been identified, said Mr. Sundarraj , adding that the police were verifying if their ranks had changed in the banned outfit’s hierarchy as that would determine the face value of the reward on their head. He also said that 15 of the Naxalites killed in the encounter were women.
“The encounter on Tuesday (April 16) has inflicted a heavy blow to the North Bastar division committee. However, there is a lot more left to be done to completely eliminate it and we are heading in the right direction,” added Mr. Sundarraj.
