HYDERABAD, Mar 3:
A senior Maoist leader carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head was among the 10 Naxals killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, a top Telangana Police official said today.
The Greyhounds, an anti-Naxal force, had yesterday swooped on the camp of Maoists near Pujari Kanker in Bijapur district, as part of a joint operation with the Chhattisgarh Police. Ten Maoists, including seven women, were killed in the early morning operation in which a personnel of the elite force also lost his life.
Dadaboina Swamy alias Prabhakar, a divisional committee rank member of the banned CPI (Maoist), figures among the rebels killed in the encounter yesterday, he said.
“He (Prabhakar) was a divisional committee member and a native of Warangal district (in Telangana). He carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head,” the official said.
Earlier, Superintendent of Police of Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district Ambar Kishor Jha said bodies of two Naxals and the junior commando of Greyhounds were airlifted yesterday. Due to the inaccessibility of the location, the rest of the bodies were flown in a chopper this morning to the hospital.
“Susheel Kumar, a junior commando of the Greyhounds, lost his life,” officials had said.
The Chhattisgarh Police had yesterday identified two of the dead Naxals as Sanjeev, a “deputy commander”, and a woman named Pedda Budri. However, a senior police officer today clarified that Sanjeev was not among the dead Naxals.
The Naxals killed were identified as Ithu, Budri, Rame, Mallesh, Kamala, Kosi, Sukki, Ratna and Sombi, the official said, adding most of them were members of dalam (an armed unit).
Most of the Naxals killed yesterday hailed from Chhattisgarh, he said.
The police earlier said there were six women among the dead rebels.
“Since all the members were in their uniforms, we could not distinguish between men and women. Today during ‘panchanama’ it was noticed there were seven women members among them,” Jha said.
An AK-47, among other things, was recovered from the encounter site indicating the presence of a top Maoist leader at the gunfight site, a senior police official said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Telangana DGP M Mahender Reddy paid floral tributes to slain commando Sushil Kumar at his residence in Bidar in Karnataka. (PTI)
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