Mumbai: In a major intelligence-based operation, 12 Naxalites were killed in an encounter in the Gadchiroli district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra on Wednesday.
A police officer and a jawan sustained gun-shot wounds during the encounter.
The encounter took place at the Wandoli village in the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border.
The C60 elite commando unit of the Anti-Naxalite Operations (ANO) led the encounter.
Gadchiroli’s Superintendent of Police Nilotpal confirmed the incident.
“An operation was launched at around 10 am from Gadchiroli in which seven C60 parties led by Deputy Superintendent (Operations) were sent near Chhattisgarh border in Wandoli village as credible intelligence was received of the location of 12-15 Naxals camping near the village. A heavy exchange of fire started in the afternoon and continued intermittently till late evening for more than six hours”, he said.
“Area search has led to recovery of 12 Maoist dead bodies till now. Seven automotive weapons including three AK47s, two INSAS, one carbine, one SLR have been recovered till now,” he said.
CPI (Maoist) Divisional Committee (DVCM) member Laxman Atram, alias Vishal Atram, who is in-charge of Tipagad Dalam has been identified as one of the dead Maoists.
Further identification of Maoists and search operations are underway.
“One Sub-Inspector of C60 and one jawan have suffered bullet injuries. They are out of danger, have been evacuated and have been shifted to Nagpur,” he said.
The encounter took place on a day when the two Deputy Chief Ministers of the state - Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the Home, Law & Judiciary Minister, and Ajit Pawar, who is also the Finance and Planning Minister - and state Industries Minister Uday Samant were in Gadchiroli for the foundation laying ceremony of a Rs 10,000-crore integrated steel project.
This is one of the biggest encounters in recent times.
On April 22 and 23, 2018, more than 40 Maoists, including four commanders were killed in the twin encounters in Gadchiroli district by ANO-CRPF, which so far, remains the biggest operation in terms of casualties inflicted on the Naxals.
On March 3 and 4, 2020, in a successful Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) operation against the Naxalites along the Gadchiroli border, an arms manufacturing unit was busted.
On May 21, 2021, 13 outlawed Naxalites were killed in a pre-dawn encounter with police and security forces at the Paydi-Kotmi jungle in Etapalli sub-division of Gadchiroli district.
On October 11, 2021, five Naxals were killed during an encounter at Kosmi-Kisneli jungles of Dhanora located along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border.