In a brazen attack, around five-six dozen heavily armed Maoists attempted to corner and eliminate a Maharashtra Police commando team in the thick forests of Hedri and in the ensuing encounter, one outlaw was killed, officials said here on Saturday.
The no-holds-barred gun-battle, lasting nearly 45 minutes, took place when the crack C-60 commando teams were engaged in an anti-insurgency operation in the Hikker jungles in Hedri in Gadchiroli district.
At around 11 a.m., some 60-70 Maoists suddenly opened fire at the C-60 forces and despite appeals to them to stop and surrender, they continued firing, said Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police, Neelotpal.
Left with no options, the C-60 teams returned the fire and the fierce encounter continued for over half-an-hour before the extremists gave up and fled into the dense forest.
Later, a search of the jungle revealed the body of one wanted Maoist, Sadhu Linga Mohanda alias Sameer (31) from Bhamragad, the police said.
"He carried a bounty of Rs 200,000 on his head and had four serious criminal cases registered against him. He has been a member of the Chatgaon LOS since 2018," Neelotpal told the media.
The police also recovered a cache of arms including one rifle, one country-made gun, a Bharmar rifle, two SLR magazines with 30 rounds, three rounds of 8 mm rifle, four rounds of 12.bore gun, two pittus, Maoist literature, one Samsung tablet, one radio and cash to the tune of over Rs 38,000, plus other personal belongings of the Maoists.
Neelotpal supervised the entire operation that was executed by the team comprising Anuj Tare, Kumar Chintha, Yatish Deshmukh and C-60 commandos.
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