Top Naxalite Udham Singh killed in Chhattisgarh encounter

A senior Naxalite carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head was gunned down on Thursday by security forces in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, police said.

He was identified as Udham Singh, a ‘divisional committee’ member of the south Bastar division of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist). Singh was in charge of platoon number 13 of the South Bastar division, the official added.

Acting on specific intelligence inputs about the presence of Singh and other armed cadres in the forest and hilly areas under the Tarrem police station limits, security personnel launched an operation, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said.

Personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and CRPF’s elite CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) commandos were involved in the operation, he said.

“The exchange of fire took place between security forces and the Maoists at around 7.30 am. After the gunfight stopped, the body of Udham Singh was recovered. An AK-47 rifle, two magazines with 28 rounds, cordex wire, a wireless set, a mobile phone, pouch, backpack, tiffin bag and other Maoist items were seized from the encounter site,” the SP said.

A native of Kottaguda village in Basaguda police station area of Bijapur district, Singh had joined the Maoist outfit as a party member in 2002-03 and had remained active along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border. He was associated with the Pamed area committee for the past three years, the official said.

12 Maoists with Rs 46 lakh bounty surrender

Raipur: Twelve Naxalites carrying a collective bounty of Rs 46 lakh surrendered before the police in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Thursday, a senior official said.

The cadres, including eight women, belonging to the ‘south sub zonal buro’ of Maoists, turned themselves in before senior police officials here under the Bastar police’s ‘Poona Margem’ (from rehabilitation to social reintegration) initiative, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said. They also surrendered an AK-47 rifle, two Self Loading Rifles (SLRs), 250 gelatin sticks, 400 detonators, one plastic drum filled with gunpowder and one bundle of cordex wire, the official said.