First-year-student among four arrested from Tekameta encounter site

Nagpur: The elite C-60 commandos of Gadchiroli police of eastern Maharashtra have arrested a 19-year-old first-year-student of agriculture studying at Bhopalapatnam from the forest of Tekameta in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh where two Maoists were also killed while one of their supporters sustained serious injuries during a joint operation on Friday.
The student was among the four, including two women cadres, who were taken into custody by the security forces after the encounter which had taken place around 10 kms away into Chhattishgarh from Indravati River which separates the two states.
Even as Chhattisgarh police had been claiming deaths of three cadres, Gadchiroli SP Neelotpal has specifically stated that the casualties in the Maoist camp were two (divisional committee member Kanthi Lingavva alias Anitha and platoon member Ashok). “The commando team returned with the two bodies, one injured and three arrested persons, including two women,” said Neelotpal, putting to rest all speculations about the number of deaths in the Maoist camp. He added that the neutralized male Maoist cadre was prima facie identified as Ashok who was probably deployed as the body guard of Anitha’s husband Bhashkar who may have left the spot earlier but every fact is being verified. “It’s not clear why Chhattisgarh police are claiming three deaths of Maoists. There were many others who too were injured in the Maoist camp but managed to flee,” the SP said.
Sources from the Gadhchiroli police stated that the two women, aged 21 and 23 years, the injured supporter and the first-year student are natives of Tekameta who were herded by the Maoists to guard their camp as sentries and spotters. “The two women and the college student were tasked with the responsibility of acting as sentries and also to spot security forces to alert the Maoist cadres in the camp,” said the source.
It’s also learnt that the C60 commandos had engaged in the operation without food and rest for 48 hours at a stretch. “The commandos were instructed to avoid halting for cooking or resting until the mission was completed in the forest,” said a source, adding, the C60 commandos had earlier got ambushed in the past around couple of kilometres away from the current encounter site where they had to wait an entire night surrounded by Maoists in the past.
It’s learnt that the Maoists cadres, belonging to the Telangana-based formation, was planning to enter Maharashtra for a ‘secret mission’. The cops are now trying to ascertain their mission.