In a significant development, top Naxalite leader Bhaskar, who carried a reward of Rs 45 lakh, was on Friday killed in an encounter with security forces in Indravati National Park area in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Friday.
A senior police official told PTI 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.
Naxal leader Bhaskar killed in encounter
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 lakhs in Chhattisgarh and 20 lakhs 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.
Top Naxal leader Sudhakar killed on Thursday
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 radicalization of youth and also responsible for numerous Naxal attacks in Chhattisgarh, resulting in the death of civilians and security personnel, police said.
Another Naxal leader Basavaraju killed last month
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.
