7 Maoists, Including Top Leader, Killed In Encounters In Maharashtra

Seven Maoists, including top leader Prabhakar, were killed in encounters with police in eastern Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, while a police jawan also succumbed to the injuries suffered during a gunfight, officials said on Saturday.

The anti-Maoist operation was going on in the area for the last three days.

Prabhakar alias Loketi Chandar Rao, who hailed from Kamareddy in Telangana and was in-charge of the Maoists' Gadchiroli Division Committee, West Sub-Zonal Bureau and `Company No 10', carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh on his head, officials said.

Following intelligence inputs about the movement of surviving cadres of Company No. 10 and unknown Maoist formation from Chhattisgarh, an operation was launched on the night of February 3, Gadchiroli Police said in a release.

Fourteen units of C-60 -- a special anti-Maoist force of Gadchiroli Police -- launched the operation near Phodewada village on Narayanpur-Gadchiroli border, it said.

While the bodies of three Maoists were recovered on Thursday night, another four bodies were retrieved from the area on Friday.

Thus, the bodies of seven Maoists (four male and three female) have been recovered along with three AK-47 rifles, one SLR and one .303 rifle.

Apart from Prabhakar, the identities of the other killed Maoists were yet to be established.

C-60 jawan Deepak Chinna Madavi (38), a resident of Mandra in Aheri tehsil of the district, neutralised two Maoists in a heavy exchange of fire on Thursday evening, but suffered a bullet injury himself and died after being airlifted to a Bhamragad hospital, the release said.

Madavi will be cremated on Saturday at his native village with full honours, it added.

Joga Madavi, another jawan who is resident of Kishtyapalli, also received bullet injuries on Thursday night. He was airlifted to Gadchiroli and was undergoing treatment. His condition was stable, officials said.

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