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Chhattisgarh: Bastar police trashes Maoists’ claim that 6 cops were killed in Sukma encounter

IG says Maoist leadership resorting to propaganda to boost sagging morale of cadres

maoist attack Representational image | Reuters

The Bastar police have trashed the claim of the Communist Party of India (Maoists) that six cops were killed during the encounter in Sukma's Jagarkunda-Kunded forests on February 25. The police also denied the claims of the Maoists that none of their cadre were killed in the encounter.

The Inspector General of Police of Bastar range, Sundarraj. P maintained that three district reserve guards (DRG) commandos of Chhattisgarh police ‘had made supreme sacrifice while fighting the Maoists’. He said that the “CPI Maoist leadership are resorting to tactics of propaganda to boost up the sagging morale of their already depleted and devastated cadres.”

In a statement released to the media, the IG said that the recently issued press release by CPI Maoist South Sub Zonal bureau with regard to the Jagargunda-Kunded (District Sukma) encounter of February 25 is an example of their unethical tactics and immoral approach.

“In the press release the Maoists have claimed death of six police personnel and injuries to 12 police personnel. In reality, DRG commandos fought valiantly and forced the Maoists to abscond from the encounter spot, with many dead and wounded cadres,” Sundarraj said.

The Maoists’ press release of March 1 had said that the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) of the Communist Party of India (Maoists)  attacked the road opening and combing party of Chhattisgarh police and killed six cops and injured 12. Signed by spokesperson ‘Samta’, the Maoists claimed that on the same day (February 25), PLGA also attacked an outer post of Gundrai police camp, killed another cop, and injured four. The note claimed that the PLGA cadre ‘confiscated’ three AK-47 rifles, one each of two-inch mortar and 9-mm pistol, walkie-talkies and ammunition.

“(Union) home minister Amit Shah, (Chhattisgarh chief minister) Bhupesh Baghel and Sundarraj are hiding the facts and publicizing an imaginary story. None of our PLGA associates were killed. All have returned safely,” the note said.

In his statement meanwhile, Sunddrraj said that the recent press releases being issued by Maoist formations are mostly in "cut-copy-paste" pattern, with fabricated facts and misleading details. “These press releases are part of the Maoist propaganda to mislead the local population with an unrealistic hope to regain their lost ground in Dandakaranya region. The reality is that due to their own inhumane and anti-development deeds, Naxals have become unpopular among the native population and are on the verge of extinction. In the last two decades, Maoists have killed more than 1,724 innocent civilians, mostly tribals, just to terrorise the native population and extort illegal levy for their own existence.” 

The IG further challenged Basava Raju, General Secretary of the banned and illegal CPI (Maoist) outfit to muster courage to face at least one of the family of the native tribal villager and explain why one of their family members was killed in the name of ‘people's revolution’. 

Sundarraj also said that the recent conduct of CPI Maoist cadres is an indication that their doomsday is nearing very fast. “The CPI Maoist leadership has no command and control over their local cadres, who are indulged only in extortion by harassing the native population. All these factors would ensure that the Maoist would meet their end very sooner than expected,” the IG said.

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