Naxal commander killed in encounter

Raipur, Aug 16 (PTI) A hardcore Naxal, who was allegedlyinvolved in blowing up an ambulance killing five CRPFpersonnel and two civilians during 2014 Lok Sabha poll inChhattisgarh’s Bastar district, was today killed in agun-battle with security forces, police said. Maoists’ Jan-Militia commander, Arjun, was gunned downby a joint team of security forces in the forests ofChandometa under Darbha police station limits of the districtthis morning, Inspector General of Police Bastar Range, SRPKalluri, told PTI. Composite forces of DRG (District Reserve Group), STF(Special Task Force) and district force was out on anoperation since August 10 towards Chandometa bordering withOdisha’s Tulsi village which is considered a naxal den, hesaid. Chandometa is located around 55 kms away from Darbhapolice station of Bastar, which lies at a distance of about370 kms from the state capital Raipur. Today, when security forces were cordoning off forestson a hill, a gun-battle broke out between both the sides aftera group of cadres opened fire at them, the IG said, adding,the encounter lasted for about an hour following which somerebels escaped. During searches, body of a male Maoist besides firearm andvarious other naxal-related items were recovered from thespot, he added. The body of the deceased was identified with the help ofvillagers as Arjun, the dreaded Jan Militia commander ofChandometa and member of Machhkot LOS (Local OrganisationSquad), he said. Due to consistent and intense operations carried out bypolice and paramilitary forces over the past few months inDarbha region, Naxalites have disintegrated considerably fromtheir hubs like Chandometa, Koleng and Mundagarh and theregion is almost free from the clutches of Maoist menace,Kalluri claimed. Arjun was mainly involved in blowing up a 108 SanjeevaniExpress (express ambulance service) on April 2, 2014 in Darbhaarea in which five CRPF jawans and two ambulance staffs werekilled, murder of former Sarpach of Koelng Panduram Nag (2015)and the recent murder of a villager in Kadanar village onAugust 10, the IG said. Earlier, two Maoists were killed by security forces inthe same Chandometa forests of Darbha on August 1 this year.PTI TKP DKMNGSRE