Top Naxal leader Bhaskar killed in encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur

Top Naxalite leader Bhaskar, who carried a cumulative bounty of Rs 45 lakh, has been killed in an encounter with security forces in Indravati National Park area in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Friday, a senior police official said citing "preliminary identification of body".

The encounter was part of the same anti-Naxal operation underway since Wednesday by personnel from the state police's Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) as well as the CRPF's specialised unit CoBRA, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range Sundarraj said.

"After the exchange of fire stopped, the body of a Naxalite along with one AK-47 rifle and other explosives, weapons, and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site. Preliminary identification suggests the body is of Bhaskar alias Mailarapu Adellu, a special zonal committee (SZC) member of the Telangana State Committee (TSC) of the outlawed Maoists," he said.

"Bhaskar, a resident of Adilabad district in Telangana, was the secretary of the Mancherial-Komarambheem (MKB) division of the TSC of Maoists. He carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh in Chhattisgarh and Rs 20 lakh in Telangana," the IG added.

This is the third big success in the past fortnight for security forces pushing relentlessly against the Naxals with the aim of ending the menace by March 2026.

On Thursday, senior Maoist leader Narasimha Chalam alias Sudhakar, who had a bounty of Rs 40 lakh on his head, was killed in an encounter with security forces in the same area, police said.

Originally hailing from Andhra Pradesh, the 67-year-old Sudhakar was involved in indoctrination and radicalisation of youth and also responsible for numerous Naxal attacks in Chhattisgarh, resulting in the death of civilians and security personnel, police said.

On May 21, Communist Party of India (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju (70) was neutralised by security forces in Narayanpur in Bastar region.