14 Maoists Killed Along Odisha, Chhattisgarh Border

Raipur/Bhubaneswar: Fourteen Naxals, including a top leader of the CPI (Maoists) who was carrying a reward of Rs 1 crore, were killed in a joint operation by central and state police forces along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday termed the encounter as "another mighty blow to Naxalism" and asserted the Narendra Modi government's resolve for a Naxal-free India and the joint efforts of the security forces to eliminate the menace from the country.

Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district superintendent of police Nikhil Rakhecha said of the deceased, one has been identified as Jairam alias Chalpati, a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist), who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 crore. The identity of the remaining cadres was yet to be ascertained.

"Another mighty blow to Naxalism. Our security forces achieved major success towards building a Naxal-free Bharat. The CRPF, SoG Odisha, and Chhattisgarh Police neutralised 14 Naxalites in a joint operation along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border. With our resolve for a Naxal-free India and the joint efforts of our security forces, Naxalism is breathing its last today," Shah wrote on X. Giving details of the incident, police said two women Naxalites were killed during a joint operation on Monday along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border. A large cache of firearms, ammunition and IEDs, including a self-loading rifle, were recovered from the encounter site.

A fresh exchange of firing took place late Monday night and it continued till early hours of Tuesday in a forest under the Mainpur police station areas (Chhattisgarh) along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, in which 12 more Naxalites were gunned down. With this, the total number of Maoists killed in the operation went up to 14, police said. Intermittent exchange of firing in the area was underway on Tuesday too and the number of Maoist casualties may increase, they said. A joint team of security personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of the Chhattisgarh Police, CoBRA commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel from the Odisha Police were involved in the operation.

The operation was launched on the night of January 19 based on intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in the Kularighat reserve forest of Chhattisgarh, just 5 km from the border of Odisha's Nuapada district.