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Hyderabad: After a brief lull in their gun battle, the police shot dead six Maoists, including four women, on Friday (July 18) in an alleged encounter close to where party leader Nambala Kesava Rao fell to their bullets in Abhujmad forest of Narayanpur district in Chhattisgarh on May 21.

Thursday’s encounter, which claimed the lives of six members of Battalion One of the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army, the most battle-hardened unit of the CPI (Maoist), dealt another deadly blow to the party. It took place after uneasy calm in the contiguous forest of Chhattisgarh since the previous encounter on June 7, when seven of its cadres, including a Central Committee member Sudhakar and two Telangana State committee members Bhaskar and Bandi Prakash, were shot down.

It was more than 24 hours after the encounter that the police declared the identity of the slain Maoists on Saturday evening. The Inspector General of Police of Bastar region, Sundarraj P, issued a press release saying the slain Maoists were identified as Rahul Punem alias Latchu Punem, commander of Battalion One of PLGA and a Bastar Divisional Committee member, and PLGA members Ungi Tati, Manisha, Tati Meena alias Choti, Harish and Kudam Budhri. An AK 47 assault rifle, a self-loading rifle and other arms and ammunition were recovered.

Battalion One is primarily used for ensuring the safe movement of senior Maoist leaders. The killing of Rahul Punem, who headed the battalion, is a significant setback for the party, the release said, adding that, with this encounter, the total number of Maoists killed in the Bastar region in 2025 has gone up to 204.

Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Robinson Guria said that based on credible intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoist cadre in Pariya-Kakur jungles of Abhujmad, a joint operation was........

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