Chhattisgarh: Maoist top gun Sudhakar shot dead in Bijapur encounter

RAIPUR:

Following up on their warning to Maoist commanders to ‘surrender or die’, security forces gunned down another central committee member, Sudhakar alias Tentu Lakshmi Narasimha Chalam — the insurgent outfit’s ideological chief — in a forest in Bastar’s Bijapur district on Thursday morning.Bastar Range IG P Sundarraj, who had warned Maoist commanders to ‘surrender or die’, confirmed to TOI that Sudhakar was neutralized in an exchange of fire between security forces and Maoists in the National Park area of Bijapur. He is the third central committee member to be killed this year after Jai Ram alias Chalapathy on Jan 21 and CPI(Maoists) general secretary Basavaraju on May 21.Police officers said a few other Maoist commanders were with Sudhakar and they are “hopeful of more success”.

The operation is underway.Three days ago, TOI had reported that security forces in Bastar have precise information on the locations of nine top Maoist commanders in Bastar division, and an operation to eliminate them is imminent unless they surrender.Sudhakar was tracked down and shot dead barely two weeks after Basavaraju and 27 others were eliminated in an encounter in Abujhmarh. On May 27, IG Sundarraj had declared his ‘final warning’ to Maoist top guns to surrender or be killed by police.

“The end will be terrifying for all those who killed villagers and security personnel,” he said.On Wednesday, police got intelligence inputs about the location of some Maoist top guns in the Indravati National Park area.IG Sundarraj said: “It was very specific information on the presence of central committee member Gautam alias Sudhakar, Telangana state committee member Bandi Prakash, Dandakaranya special zonal committee member Pappa Rao, and a few other armed cadres.”Troops from District reserve Guards, Special Task Force and CRPF’s CoBRA commandos set out to intercept them. They went on foot, traversing treacherous terrain in the dark, and caught sight of the Maoists early Thursday morning.The gunfight broke out with the rising sun. After a while, police found the body of a dead Maoist, gaunt, silver-haired with a week’s stubble on his face. He was clad in a blue shirt and an AK-47 had fallen from his lifeless hands.Officers leading the encounter suspected it was Sudhakar. Confirmation came around noon.“An AK-47 rifle and a large quantity of explosive materials, arms, and ammunition were recovered during the search operation,” Sundarraj said.According to records, Sudhakar carried a bounty of Rs 40 lakh in Chhattisgarh alone. A native of Chintapalli in Andhra Pradesh, he ran the Maoist network in Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for decades.Sudhakar was not only responsible for several brutal killings and ambushes, he headed the Maoist ideological training school (RePOS), and was involved in misleading and radicalizing youngsters with violent and anti-national ideologies, the IG said.“Sudhakar’s death is a major success for security forces and is a significant blow to the Maoist leadership, particularly in Dandakaranya region. His neutralization is a considerable setback to the already weakening strength of the outlawed Maoist organization,” Sundarraj said.Sudhakar’s elimination is another body blow to Maoists, who are in utter disarray due to a leadership vacuum. With Basavaraju betrayed by his own bodyguards, commanders don’t know who to trust, say police. There is extreme distrust in the Maoist rank and file.According to security agencies, nine of the remaining 15 top Maoist leaders, collectively carrying bounties worth Rs 8.4 crore, are hiding in Bastar. If they continue to follow the way of the gun, they will die by it, police have warned.

“We will get them one by one,” warned IG Sundarraj.Bodies of 186 dead Maoists have been recovered in Bastar division this year. Search operations are still on at Thursday’s encounter site to track down the other Maoist cadres who might have fled from the spot and to recover additional material evidence.In the May 21 encounter in Kudmel-Kalhaja-Jatloor forest region of Abujhmarh, in which Basavaraju was killed, forces recovered rifles looted by him and his associates from dead jawans in the April 2010 Tadmetla ambush in Dantewada.IG Sundarraj Pattlingam said security forces remain committed to ensuring peace and development in the region, and reiterated his appeal to the remaining Maoist cadres to shun violence and join the mainstream.