Two women Naxal leaders carrying a collective bounty of Rs 28 lakhs on their heads, were shot dead in an encounter by security forces in a forest of Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district on Saturday, reports said.

According to reports, the two women Naxals, each carrying a reward of Rs 14 lakhs on their heads, were shot and killed in a gunfight with forces’ personnel in Kadla forest area under Garhi police station limits in the wee hours on Saturday.

The slain Naxals were identified as Area Committee Member (ACM) and Commander of Bhoramdev Committee, Sunita and Sarita Khatia Mocha, ACM and active in Vistar Dalam, a senior official said.

He said that a large cache of arms and ammunition, including guns and cartridges, besides a large quantity of weapons, were recovered from the killed women Naxal leaders, adding that the police have launched a massive search operation in the forest and the area is being combed for presence of more Naxalites.

Inspector General of Police Sanjay Kumar (Balaghat Zone), Superintendent of Police, Sameer Saurabh, and Hawkforce CO arrived at the scene after receiving information about the gunfight.

As many as six notorious Naxal leaders have been shot dead by the Balaghat Police over the past year.

In a similar incident earlier this month, five wanted Maoists were shot dead in an encounter in Jharkhand’s Naxal-insurgency hit Chatra.

An official statement by the Jharkhand Police said the five Naxals were killed in an encounter with the police in Chatra and two of the slain insurgents carried a bounty of Rs 25 lakh each, while the other two had a reward of Rs 5 lakh on their head.

They said that two AK 47 assault rifles were recovered from the killed Naxals, adding that the operation is still underway as the area is being combed for more insurgents and further details are awaited.

Local reports said that the security forces had received information that a group of Maoists had their hideout in the Palamu-Chatra border area and a joint operation was launched by Cobra 203 of the CRPF, Jaguar (Jharkhand Special Task Force) and Palamu-Chatra districts’ police

The joint team engaged in a gunfight with Maoists in the Lavalong area of Chatra and Dwarika area of Palamu on Monday morning in which the insurgents were shot dead.

Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asked why Satyapal Malik did not speak out when he was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir, referring to the estranged BJP leader’s recent critical remarks against the BJP-ruled Central government.

Speaking at the India Today Karnataka Roundtable 2023, Amit Shah said the BJP is like an open book and hasn’t done anything that needs to hidden.

The BJP stalwart called for credibility check of Satyapal Malik claims against the Centre and questioned why Malik kept silent during his tenure as J&K governor if he knew about the irregularities

On CBI summon to Satyapal Malik in connection with an alleged graft case, Amit Shah said the probe agency is merely performing its duty and this is not the first time he (Malik) has been called in for questioning.

The Union Home Minister trashed claims that Malik was summoned by the CBI because of his recent interview in which he levelled allegations against the BJP-led federal government including claims that the 2019 Pulwama terror attack that killed 41 CRPF men, happened due to the Centre’s “lackadaisical approach” as “the Army was denied air movement of troops by the Central government.”

Amit Shah also commented on speculations that Satyapal Malik might be joining a BJP rival, saying that the former J&K governor’s claims are doubtful as they were made after distancing himself from the saffron party…  “Malik ji has been a part of the party for a long time. People change from time to time. Voters should judge carefully.”

Malik has been summoned by the CBI in connection with an alleged graft case involving Reliance General Insurance which reportedly took place during his stint as governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking to news agency PTI, Satyapal Malik said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned him to the its Akbar Road guesthouse in New Delhi to provide “certain clarifications” on April 28.

Malik said he told the CBI that he was available from April 27 to 29 as he is travelling to Rajasthan. The probe agency has asked him to come in for questioning on April 28.

The former governor, referring to his recent interview with ‘The Wire’ wherein he criticized the ruling BJP-led central government over its handling of Jammu and Kashmir, said he’s been summoned by the federal agency as he “exposed the sins of some people” by speaking the truth.

Tweeting in Hindi, Malik said he stands with the truth…” I am the son of a farmer; I will not panic. I stand by the truth.”

A horrific incident has come to light from Northeast Delhi’s Karawal Nagar where a man allegedly killed his live-in partner and dumped her body 12 lm away from a house with the help of his sister.

Police on April 12 found the body of Rohina Naz alias Mahi, a resident of Uttarakhand’s Mirajpur, lying near Krishna Public School. The police have arrested the sister of the accused in this case.

According to the police, the accused, identified as Vineet, is on the run while his sister Parul has been arrested for helping him conspire the murder and hide the body.

Reports state, the 25-year-old Mahi and Vineet eloped four years ago and were living together in Delhi. Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said Mahi was pressuring him for marriage and because of this, the couple used to fight frequently.

Fed up from the fight, the siblings initially planned to sell off Mahi, however, the latter got a sense of their plan and retaliated. The brother-sister duo then decided to kill her.

The police said that on April 12, Vineet and Mahi had an argument over marriage and she was pressurizing him to tie the know with her but Vineet’s family was against their relationship because the victim belonged to a different community.

Furious over this, Vineet strangulated Mahi to death and carried her body on his shoulder in order to dump the body. The accused took her body on his shoulder while Parul carried the victim’s clothes and a cloth that was used to wrap up Mahi’s body.

Vineet and his associate drove the motorcycle with the body for over 12 km and then dumped it near Krishna Public School.

After scanning the CCTV footage of the area, the police nabbed Parul from Krishna Nagar. Vineet and his associate are still on the run.

Reports state that Vineet is a history sheeter. In 2017, Vineet and his father were involved in a murder in Ramala Sugar Mill, Baghpat. The father-son duo was convicted and sent to life imprisonment on October 25, 2019. Mahi used to live with Parul in Delhi when Vineet was in jail. Vineet came out on bail on November 26, 2022.