New Delhi: Weeks after a series of surrenders marking the collapse of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) in the country, security forces Monday killed an Area Committee-level cadre in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker.
Kanker Superintendent of Police Nikhil Rakhecha said that the cadre, identified as Rupi, was the last surviving Maoist cadre from the Telugu state. Additionally, she was also the wife of slain Maoist commander Vijay Reddy, who was killed in an encounter by the forces in the state’s Mohala-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district in August last year.
Reddy was a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZCM), one of the most significant organisational committees of the banned outfit.
The latest encounter took place when the security forces started a search operation based on the intelligence input about the presence of Maoist cadres in the border region of the Chhotebethiya–Partapur police station limits in Kanker district.
“During the search operation, an exchange of fire took place between the police force and the Maoists in the Machpalli area. Following the encounter, during the subsequent search, security forces recovered the body of a female Maoist cadre,” Rakhecha said in a statement.
“The body of the Maoist cadre recovered from the encounter site has been identified as that of female Maoist Commander ‘Rupi’ (an ACM),” Rakhecha further said, adding that “Rupi was the last active Telugu Maoist cadre in the Bastar region.”
The development comes weeks after the deadline set and publicly announced by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah of eradicating the Left Wing Extremism from the country.
Rupi happened to be the 28th Maoist cadre to have been killed in an encounter in the Bastar region. In the first four months of this year, nearly 400 Maoist cadres have surrendered their weapons and joined the mainstream in Bastar.
Responding to the latest encounter, Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sundar Raj Patiilingam said that a large number of Maoist cadres have paid heed to the appeals made by the administration and the security forces, and joined rehabilitation. However, he said that “some cadres like Rupi abandoned the path of rehabilitation and adopted the path of violence, which has resulted in their demise today”.
Sources in the Chhattisgarh Police say that around 15-16 Maoist cadres are remaining in the Bastar region, a majority of whom have already abandoned their weapons and are roaming and taking shelter in villages. IG Sundar Raj reiterated his appeal, asking all remaining Maoist cadres to come forward for surrender.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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