Raipur, September 11 – At least ten Naxalites, including senior leader Modem Balakrishna, were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district on Thursday, officials confirmed.
The gun battle began in the forests under Mainpur police station limits when a joint team of security personnel launched an anti-Naxalite operation. Raipur Range Inspector General of Police Amresh Mishra said the operation involved the Special Task Force (STF), E-30 unit of the district police, the CRPF’s elite CoBRA battalion, and other state police units.
“Ten Naxalites, including senior cadres, have been killed so far. Intermittent firing is still underway, and further details will follow as the operation continues,” Mishra said.
Balakrishna, also known by aliases Balanna, Ramachander, and Bhaskar, was a Central Committee Member of the banned CPI (Maoist) and served as secretary of its Odisha State Committee. He joined the movement in the early 1980s and was considered one of its senior ideologues.
The operation was launched based on intelligence reports about the movement of top Maoist leaders in the region, situated over 180 km from Raipur.
With this encounter, security forces have eliminated 241 Naxalites in Chhattisgarh this year alone. Of these, 212 were killed in the Bastar division, 27 in Gariaband, and two in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki of Durg division. Notably, Chalpathi alias Jairam, another Central Committee member, was among those killed earlier this year.
In January, 16 Maoists were neutralised in the same Mainpur area of Gariaband during a similar operation.
