Forces kill 14 Maoists along Odisha-Chhattisgarh border

Exchange of fire continued till of Tuesday. Representation pic

Fourteen Maoists, including a top leader of the CPI (Maoists) with a reward of Rs 1 crore, were killed in a joint operation by central and state police forces along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border. Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district superintendent of police Nikhil Rakhecha said of the deceased, one has been identified as Jairam alias Chalpati, a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist), who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 crore.

The identity of the remaining cadres was yet to be ascertained. Giving details of the incident, police said two women Maoists were killed during a joint operation on Monday along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border. A large cache of firearms, ammunition and IEDs, including a self-loading rifle, were recovered from the encounter site.

A fresh exchange of firing took place late Monday night and it continued till early hours of Tuesday in a forest under the Mainpur police station areas (Chhattisgarh) along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, in which 12 more Maoists were gunned down. With this, the total number of Maoists killed in the operation went up to 14, police said.

The operation was launched on the night of January 19 based on intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in the Kularighat reserve forest of Chhattisgarh, just 5 km from the border of Odisha's Nuapada district. A total of 40 Moaists have been killed in separate gun fights in Chhattisgarh this year.

‘Mighty blow to Maoism'

Union Home Minister Amit Shah termed the encounter as "another mighty blow to Maoism" and asserted the Narendra Modi government's resolve for a Maoist-free India and the joint efforts of the security forces to eliminate the menace from the country. "Another mighty blow to Maoism. Our security forces achieved major success towards building a Maoist-free Bharat. The CRPF, SoG Odisha, and Chhattisgarh Police neutralised 14 Maoists in a joint operation along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border," Shah wrote on X.

Hailing the security forces, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said under the BJP-led double-engine government at the Centre and the state, Chhattisgarh will get rid of the menace by March 2026. He said strengthening the resolve of Prime Minister Modi and the union home minister to end Maoism in the country by March 2026, the security forces have been continuously achieving success and moving rapidly towards fulfilling the target.

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