Naxal carrying reward of Rs 5 lakh killed in encounter in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada

Dantewada: A Naxal involved in the killing of three policemen and carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Tuesday, a senior police official said.

The skirmish took place in the forest near Mangnar village under Barsur police station limits, he said.

Personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Bastar Fighters (BF), both state police units, and the Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) 195th battalion were out on an anti-Naxal operation after receiving intelligence inputs about the presence of armed Naxals of Aamdai Area Committee in the Mangnar forest, the official said.

A gunbattle broke out, and after the exchange of fire stopped, the body of Ratan Kashyap alias Salam (31) was recovered from the spot, he said.

Kashyap was the Todma Militia Platoon Deputy Commander as well as Aamdai Area Committee Member of the outlawed Maoist organization, he added.

In 2020, he was involved in an IED blast in which two policemen were killed, and in the murder of a policeman elsewhere in Mardum area of Bastar district, the official said.

Kashyap was involved in a total of nine Naxal violence incidents in Dantewada and Bastar districts, he added.

A search operation is still underway in the area, the official said.