Raipur: A woman Naxalite – with a Rs 25 lakh bounty on her head – died in an encounter with security forces in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Monday morning. Officials confirmed that the body recovered from the forest was that of Renuka, alias Banu, alias Chaite, alias Saraswati, a resident of Warangal in the neighbouring state of Telangana.
Renuka was allegedly in charge of the press team of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee – considered the strongest formation of Maoists at the moment. According to Dantewada superintendent of police Gaurav Rai, the gunfight erupted around 9 am in a forest along the Dantewada-Bijapur border during an anti-Maoist operation. “The operation is still underway,” he told the media.
Security forces recovered an Insas rifle along with other arms and ammunition from the site. In the first three months of this year, 135 Maoists have been killed in Chhattisgarh, 119 of them in the Bastar region alone.
On March 20, thirty Naxalites were killed in two separate encounters with security forces in the Bijapur and Kanker districts of the state. On Sunday, 50 rebels laid down arms in Chhattisgrarh, prompting Union home minister Amit Shah to reiterate: “This was a very good decision. The Narendra Modi government has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards Maoists who refuse to surrender. India will be free of Naxalism by March 31, 2026.”
Meanwhile, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by Maoists to target security forces are turning into a big menace for villagers. On Sunday, a 40-year-old tribal woman lost her life after stepping on a an IED with a pressure trigger in Bijapur’s Bottamarka Hills, where she had gone to collect fruits. She was shifted to the Usoor Community Health Centre, where she died
