7 Maoists, including top commander, killed in encounter in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli
The encounters came as part of an anti-Maoist operation that lasted for three days. A police personnel lost his life in the gunfight. A second C-60 commando also sustained a bullet injury.
Seven Maoists, including a top commander, were killed in separate encounters during a days-long operation conducted by security forces in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. A police personnel was also killed in action.
The encounters came as part of an anti-Maoist operation that lasted for three days. Prabhakar, alias Loketi Chandar Rao, who hailed from Telangana and carried a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on his head, was among the Maoists killed in the gunfight.
Gadchiroli Police in a statement said that Prabhakar was in-charge of the Maoists' Gadchiroli Division Committee, West Sub-Zonal Bureau and 'Company No 10'.
The anti-Maoist operation was jointly carried out by Gadchiroli Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). It was launched on the night of February 3 on the basis of intelligence inputs about the movement of surviving cadres of Company No. 10 and an unknown Maoist formation from Chhattisgarh.
Fourteen units of C-60 – a special anti-Maoist force of Gadchiroli Police – were subsequently pressed into action and an operation was launched along the Narayanpur-Gadchiroli border.
"Facing very remote and challenging terrain, the Police parties had entered the said forest area with great courage. During the search operation in the said forest area on 04th February 2026, Maoists opened indiscriminate fire at the police personnel," the official release said.
The security personnel returned fire in self-defence. On Thursday, additional units of C-60 were deployed and a unit of the CRPF was also rushed to reinforce the cordon.
While the bodies of three Maoists were recovered on Thursday night, another four bodies were retrieved on Friday. In total, the bodies of four male Maoists and their three female comrades were recovered along with three AK-47 rifles, one SLR and one .303 rifle.
The police commando who lost his life in the gunfight has been identified as 38-year-old C-60 jawan Deepak Chinna Madavi. He succumbed to a bullet injury after neutralising two Maoists, the police said.
A second C-60 commando was also injured by a bullet. His condition has been described as stable by the authorities.