Raipur, Jul 3 (PTI) Security personnel have recovered a cache of arms, ammunition and explosives at the site of an encounter in which five Naxalites were killed in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district a day ago, a senior police official said on Wednesday.
Prima facie, it seems the slain cadres belonged to Maoists’ PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerilla Army) Company No. 1 and were part of security detail of senior Naxalites, he said.
Police had said five Naxalites were gunned down on Tuesday in an encounter with security forces in forests under the Kohkameta police station area of Narayanpur district, around 240km from state capital Raipur.
Following the encounter, an ongoing search operation was extended in the area till Wednesday afternoon following which security personnel started returning to their bases, Inspector General of Police, Bastar range Sundarraj P told PTI.
Personnel belonging to the state police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF), along with the 53rd battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the 135th battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) were involved in four-day long the operation, he said.
The operation was launched on June 30 from different police stations and camps in the district, including Kohkameta, Sonpur, Irakbhatti and Mohndi, informed the senior IPS officer.
On Tuesday, at around 10:30 am when security forces were cordoning off a forest between Hikulnar and Ghamandi villages, a gunfight broke out between the two sides. The intermittent firing lasted till late in the evening at different places, Sundarraj said.
“During a search, bodies of five male Naxalites were found at the site. Besides, one .303 rifle, three .315 bore rifles, two muzzle loading rifles, BGL (barrel grenade launcher) shells and a huge cache of ammunition and explosives were also recovered from there,” the IG said.
Several other Maoists were reported to be either killed or injured in the gunfight, he added.
“Preliminary investigation suggests the slain Naxalites belonged to PLGA Company No. 1 of Maoists and were part of a team which provides security to Central Committee leaders of the outlawed outfit,” Sundarraj said, adding their identification was yet to be done.
With this action, 136 Naxalites have been killed so far this year in separate encounters with security forces in the Bastar division which comprises seven districts, including Narayanpur, he said.
While 482 Maoists were arrested, 453 surrendered during the same period in the division, the senior officer added. PTI TKP RSY
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