Chhattisgarh police bring body of Maoist commander

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A Chhattisgarh Police team registered a major psychological win against Maoists Saturday when it managed to bring the body of a senior guerrilla fighter Hemla Masa, alias Vijay, the commander of Company 2 of West Bastar Division of CPI (Maoist). Police said Masa was the top-most cadre whose body they have recovered in the entire history of the Maoist conflict. Another Maoist was killed in the Bijapur encounter that also saw the deaths of three personnel.

On Saturday, a team of STF and District Reserve Guard travelled over 12 km through the forest after a long encounter and brought all the five bodies with them. Security forces are rarely able to recover the bodies of their fellow personnel immediately, let alone those of the Maoists.

Last month, the STF had retreated leaving the bodies of its seven personnel in Pilmed region of Sukma. The bodies were brought only 30 hours later.

“It was among our best battle. The Maoists were completely overpowered by police and left the body of even their commander,” said DGP A N Upadhyaya on Saturday.

Significantly, police also recovered as many as nine Under-Barrel Grenade Launcher shells, highly lethal ammunition the Maoists had earlier snatched from the forces.

ADG (Naxal) RK Vij promised out-of-turn promotion for several personnel who were part of the Saturday encounter.

Chhattisgarh Police head constable Budhram Apka said, “We halted at a place for the night when I saw a Mahua tree branch snapping. It was not a breezy night. Agar mahua dagaal bina baat ke gire to samjah lo kuch hoga (If a Mahua branch snaps without any reason it indicates something will happen),” adding that the next morning Maoists attacked.

Source:: Indian Express