Maoist chief among 27 killed in Bastar encounter

TWENTY-SEVEN MEMBERS of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), including its general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju (70), were killed in an encounter with security forces in Abujhmad area of Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Wednesday morning.

- JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU

TWENTY-SEVEN MEMBERS of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), including its general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju (70), were killed in an encounter with security forces in Abujhmad area of Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Wednesday morning. A jawan from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was also killed in the faceoff.

The encounter is the latest in a series of anti-Naxal operations undertaken by security forces in Chhattisgarh, and comes against the backdrop of a deadline home minister Amit Shah has set to eradicate Left Wing Extremism from the country - March 31, 2026.

With Tuesday's encounter, the number of Maoists killed in Chhattisgarh this year has touched 200, including 183 in the Bastar region. Last year, 219 Maoists were killed, including 217 in Bastar.

"Based on intelligence inputs regarding the presence of CPI-Maoist general secretary Basavaraju and other senior cadres of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) and People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), a joint DRG team of Chhattisgarh police from Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Kondagaon launched this decisive operation in the jungles of Abujhmad along the border region of Narayanpur, Bijapur, and Dantewada on Monday," said inspector general of police for Bastar range Sundarraj P.