Bijapur: A 25-year-old man was killed by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on suspicion of being a police informer, an official said on Sunday, December 1.
The body of Kummesh Kunjam, a resident of Daler village, was found this morning on Chihka-Tindodi road under Bhairamgarh police station limits, officials said.
“As per preliminary information, Naxalites strangled Kunjam. Pamphlets left at the spot by the Bhairamgarh area committee of the outlawed Maoists accused Kunjam of being a police informer. A team is at the spot to nab the assailants,” the official said.
More than 50 people have been killed by Naxalites this year in Bastar division, the official said.
Bastar division comprises seven districts, including Bijapur.
On Sunday, seven Maoists, including a key leader of the outlawed group with a Rs 20 lakh bounty on his head, were killed in an exchange of fire with the police in the Mulugu district of Telangana, police said.
Among those killed was Kursam Mangu alias Bhadru, a Telangana state committee member and the Yellandu-Narsampet area committee secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist), along with a woman cadre, they said, adding that six of the seven slain Maoists were natives of Chhattisgarh.
The exchange of fire took place during a combing operation in the Chalpaka forest area of Eturnagaram mandal, involving Greyhounds, an elite anti-Naxal force of Telangana Police, and the Maoists. The operation was ongoing at the time.
“Seven Maoists, including a key leader, were killed in the exchange of fire,” Mulugu District Superintendent of Police Shabarish P told PTI, adding that two AK-47 rifles were among the weapons seized from the scene.
The armed CPI(Maoist) cadres began firing indiscriminately at the police personnel despite being asked to surrender. The police also returned fire in self-defence, he said.
After the encounter, police found seven dead bodies while the remaining ultras got away.
The Maoists were implicated in the killings of two men in a village in Mulugu district last month, on suspicion of being police informers.
Additional DGP (Law & Order) Mahesh M Bhagwat praised the police teams for the operation and urged the remaining Maoist cadres to join the mainstream.
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