The toll in the twin Naxal encounters undertaken in the jungles of Gadchiroli district in eastern Maharashtra went up to 37 on Tuesday, as the security agencies recovered bodies of 15 more Maoists killed in one of the two gun battles from the bed of the nearby Indravati river.

The success of the two encounters, which took place on Sunday morning and Monday evening, could be gauged from the fact that the Maoists operating in Aheri and Sironcha talukas of Gadchiroli district were decimated in the most extensive and precision anti-Naxal operations undertaken by the State and Central security agencies.

Four of the five Maoist Divisional Committee (DVC) of south Gadchiroli unit were eliminated in the twin encounters. The four slain DVC members were Shinu, alias Shrikant, alias Vijendar Narasimhulu Rao (51), chief of South Gadchiroli Naxal unit; Sainath, alias Dolesh Madi Atram (36), Perimeli Dhalam commander; Raju, alias Ramesh Naresh Kutke (29); Gatta Dhalam commander; and Shantabai, alias Mangali Pada (31); Aheri dhalam commander.

While 31 Maoists were killed in the first encounter undertaken jointly by the C-60 commandos of the Gadchiroli police and personnel from Battalion 9 of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Boria-Tadgaon jungle of Bramhagad tehil on Sunday morning, six Left extremists were gunned down in the second operation carried out by the C-60 commandos in Ninar jungle of Jamalghatta sub-division in Gadchiroli district.

On Tuesday morning, the C-60 commandos recovered 15 bodies of Maoists killed in Sunday’s encounter from the Indravati river bed.

Of the total 37 Maoists killed in the two encounters, there were 19 women, while the remaining 18 were men. Of the eliminated Maoists, 16 bodies had been identified till Tuesday evening. “We are trying to identify the remaining 21 bodies. All the 16 identified Maoists were wanted for serious crimes, including murder, kidnapping, arson and assault. The Maharashtra Government had announced cash rewards amounting to a total of Rs 1.06 crore in the names of 16 identified Maoists,” a senior police officer who supervised the twin anti-Naxal operations said.

Thirty one Maoists killed in Sunday’s encounters were among “40 to 50” Naxalites, who had fired randomly at the C-60 commandos and CRPF personnel who had undertaken combing operation in Boria-Tadgaon jungle of Bramhagad tehil acting on a credible Intelligence input. The security personnel who had gone well-prepared for a possible encounter returned fire aggressively.

Creditably enough, there were no casualties from the security agencies’ side, while 16 Maoist bodies were recovered immediately after the encounter that lasted for nearly three hours. Many other Maoists, who were believed sustained severe bullet wounds, had run away helter skelter in their bid to escape from the clutches. “Unable to make good the escape, the wounded Maoists had fallen into the nearby Indravati River. Despite a search, we had not found the bodies on Sunday and Monday. However, during intense search, we found 15 bodies from the river bed,” the police officer said.

In the second encounter undertaken in the Ninar jungle located in the Jamalghatta sub-division on Monday evening, the C-60 commandos eliminated six Maoists. Among those killed was DVC member of Aheri Dhalam Nandu, alias Vikram, alias Bichhu Attram, a resident of Akrapalli, Aheri tehsil in Gadchiroli district. Of the six slain Maoists, the bodies of five have been identified. The five slain Maoists carried cash rewards amounting to Rs 30 lakh announced by the Maharashtra Government.

Meanwhile, the security agencies have recovered a huge cache of weapons and ammunition -- including two AK 47 assault rifles, two SLRs, two 303 rifles, one musket, 18 12-bore firearms, 5 8-mm bore firearms, explosives and detonators - from the two encounter sites.

The security agencies believe that with virtual wiping out of three major Maoists dhalams during the twin encounters, there will not be much of much of Naxal activities in the hither-to Naxalite-infested talukas of Aheri and Sironcha in Gadchiroli.

“Though we have decimated three Naxal dhalams operating in the area, we are not taking any chances. We will keep a close watch on the situation in the area. We expect the surviving Maoist leaders will go all out to recruit local villagers into their forces by offering money other allurements. We are appealing to villagers not to take to Naxalism. Simultaneously, we have also made appeals to the surviving Maoist leaders to surrender to police,” a senior officer attached to Gadchiroli district Superintendent’s office said.

The twin encounters witnessed in Gadchiroli district were the biggest-ever anti-Naxal operations witnessed in Maharashtra.

It may recalled that on December 6 last year, the commandos from the State Anti-Naxal Squad (ANS) of the Maharashtra Police had gunned down seven Naxalites, including five women, in an encounter near Jhinganur village in Sironcha tehsil of Gadchiroli.

The December 6, 2017 encounter was similar to the one witnessed on April 4, 2013, when the ANS commandos had killed seven Maoists and injured several others in an encounter in a jungle near Bhatpar village in Gadchiroli district of eastern Maharashtra, bordering Chhattisgarh.

The CRPF had suffered major casualties on March 27, 2012, when 12 of its jawans were killed and 28 others injured, when Maoists ambushed a bus carrying the security personnel and blew it up through landmines near Pastola village in Dhanora taluka of Gadchiroli district in eastern Maharashtra

Similarly as recently as on May 3, 2017, at least 15 police and security personnel were injured in two separate attacks by the Maoists in Gadchiroli. In the first incident, three security personnel - two men from the Maharashtra police and a jawan from the 37 Battalion of CRPF were injured in an encounter with a group of Maoists.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 | TN RAGHUNATHA | Mumbai