A Maoist was gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Chhattigarh’s Bijapur district on Sunday morning, a day ahead of polling in the region for the State Assembly polls.
The exchange of fire took place at a forest in Bedre area when a team of the Special Task Force (STF) was out on an anti-Naxal operation, a senior police official told PTI. As per the ground report, a body of a Naxal clad in ‘uniform’ and a rifle were recovered from the spot, located around 450 km from Raipur, he said. Further details are awaited as the search operation was still under way, he added.
IED blast in Kanker
Meanwhile, a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel was injured when Maoists detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattigsarh's Kanker district on Sunday.
A team of the BSF was out on an area-domination operation when Maoists blew up the IED in a forest area between Kattakal and Gome villages, located around 200 km from Raipur, Kanker Superintendent of Police K.L. Dhruv told PTI over the phone.
"BSF's Sub-Inspector Mahendra Singh sustained injuries in the explosion," he said.
Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured personnel was being evacuated from the forest, he said, adding that a search operation was under way in the region.
Security increased
Security has been heightened in seven districts of Bastar division and Rajnandgaon district which go to polls in the first phase on Monday. Around one lakh security personnel have been deployed to ensure smooth conduct of elections.
Maoists have asked voters to boycott the polls. The 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly will go to polls in two phases — on November 12 and 20 — and the results will be announced on December 11.
The first phase of polls will cover 18 constituencies of eight Maoist-affected districts that include Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon.
