MP Police Kill Maoist, 14 Lakh Bounty in Balaghat Encounter

The Madhya Pradesh police scored a major win in the July 8 encounter at Balaghat district. A Maoist with a Rs. 14 lakh prize on his head was sent to meet his maker! The face-off took place in the Kathiatola forest close to the Hatta police station, and elite Hawk Force commandos of the MP Police were carrying out a search operation on intelligence inputs.

The Maoists had apparently come to the Kathiatola area to collect groceries, said Additional Director General (ADG) of Anti-Naxal Operations Jaideep Prasad. In a bid to nab them, security personnel tried to stop the Maoists, but they started firing at them, and policemen retaliated. During the exchange of fire, some Maoists escaped and took shelter in a dense forest, but police killed one of them following several rounds of battle with him.

Dreaded Maoist Sohan of Sukma district in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, who was a mastermind behind preparing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), was wanted in eight criminal cases in Madhya Pradesh, and he also operated in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. In the search operation that followed, a 315-bore rifle and a wireless set were recovered from his possession.

“It is part of the intensified anti-Maoist operations by the Madhya Pradesh police. In the last five years, 19 Maoists with a collective prize on head worth Rs. 3.14 crore in Madhya Pradesh either reportedly got killed in operations being carried out against them by forces and teams of state police across boundaries here, including areas that touch the Chhattisgarh/Maharashtra region as well."

This shows the effectiveness of Hawk Force and a united action approach to tackle Maoist terrorism by all state police. ADG Prasad said the search operations in this area are on as inputs suggest that more Maoists might have been injured and they could be hiding in deep forests.

Operations like these can have a big impact in the Naxal-affected regions, SP of Balaghat Sameer Saurabh said. The incident also underscores the ongoing troubles security forces encounter while battling Maoist terrorism and the need to keep fighting against such threats.

Report by

Shomen Chandra

Sub Editor, The Narrative