On February 9, police in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh, had a big encounter with suspected Maoists. Out of the 31 suspected Maoists killed, cops have identified 28 of them. Among these, 17 were men and 11 were women. The police revealed that these identified Maoists had a total bounty of ₹1.10 crore on their heads!
One important figure among them was Hunga Karma, who was the head of the west Bastar division of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). He was known for planning a deadly IED attack on January 6 that killed eight security personnel and one civilian. There was an ₹8 lakh bounty on him!
Karma joined the outlawed group in 1996 and had eight serious criminal cases against him, including attacks on police, kidnappings, and murders.
So far this year, police say they have taken down 81 Maoists in Chhattisgarh, with 65 of them in the Bastar division, which includes Bijapur and six other nearby districts. In this year’s fights in the Bastar area, security forces found 77 guns, including powerful rifles.
Of the 31 Maoists killed, police have returned 28 bodies to their families. They continue to work on identifying the remaining three.
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