A 35-year-old woman Maoist, carrying a reward of ₹5 lakh on her head, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Thursday. The gunfight took place on a forested hill between Gufdi and Permapara villages, which falls under the Gadiras police station limits.
Acting on intelligence inputs regarding Maoist movement in the area, a team from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) launched a search operation. The encounter broke out in the morning during this operation. After the exchange of fire ended, the security personnel recovered the body of the woman Maoist, identified as Buski Nuppo. Nuppo was a member of the Malangir area committee of Maoists. She was wanted in nine serious Naxal-related cases across Sukma and Dantewada districts. According to police, the cases against her include seven registered at Aranpur police station, one at Kunkonda, and one at Gadiras.
In addition to Nuppo's body, security forces seized a cache of arms and explosives from the encounter site. These included a .315 bore rifle with five cartridges, a wireless set, eight detonators, a 10-metre-long Cordex wire, four gelatin rods, gunpowder, a radio set, Maoist literature, and other materials.
Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavhan confirmed that the operation was launched based on information about Maoist presence between Gufdi and Peramapara. The DRG team engaged the Maoists, resulting in the recovery of Nuppo's body and the aforementioned items.
With this encounter, the number of Naxalites killed in Chhattisgarh this year has risen to 247. Of these, 218 were neutralised in Bastar division, 27 in Gariaband district under Raipur division, and two in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district in Durg division. On September 11, ten Naxalites, including central committee member Modem Balakrishna, were killed in an encounter in Gariaband district.
In a separate incident in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, Maoists allegedly abducted and murdered a 25-year-old man, accusing him of being a police informer. The victim, Devendra Yadav, was kidnapped on Tuesday night, and his body was found in the Chauria forest area under Lanji police station limits on Thursday morning.
