Bijapur (Chhattisgarh) [India], January 17 : Security forces in Chhattisgarh have recovered the bodies of two Maoist cadres along with automatic weapons from the encounter site in the northwestern region of the state from Bijapur, officials confirmed on Saturday.
Bijapur Superintendent of Police (SP) Jitendra Yadav said that a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG), CoBRA and the Special Task Force (STF) carried out a search operation in the northwestern region after receiving intelligence inputs regarding the presence of the Maoist National Park Area Committee's Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) Dilip Bedja and other armed Maoists in forest and hilly areas.
According to an official statement, preliminary identification suggests that one of the deceased Maoists is Dilip Bedja, a DVCM cadre of the National Park Area Committee.
Intermittent firing has been ongoing between the joint team and the Maoists since the morning of January 17.
"So far, during the search operation, the bodies of two male Maoist cadres and graded automatic weapons like AK-47s have been recovered from the encounter site," the statement read.
Inspector General of Police (IG), Bastar Range, Sundarraj Pattilingam, said that despite difficult geographical conditions and other challenging circumstances, the DRG/CoBRA/STF personnel are continuously conducting decisive operations against armed Maoist cadres with extreme courage and commitment. I am running a few minutes late; my previous meeting is running over.
Apart from Bedja, the identity of the other cadre is yet to be confirmed.