Gadchiroli encounter: Blow for Maoists in Adilabad

The outlawed Maoist party's wings MIKBDVCM and SCAC have received a major blow in the form of killings of Vargeesh and Magtu

Adilabad: The outlawed Maoist party’s wings Mangi Indervelli Sirpur Kumram Bheem Divisional Committee (MIKBDVCM) and Sirpur-Chennur Area Committee (SCAC) have received a major blow in the form of killings of Vargeesh and Magtu.

MIKBDVCM secretary Vargeesh (28) SCAC member Magtu (32) were killed in an alleged exchange of fire between the extremists and police at Kolmarka hillocks near Repanpalli village in Gadchiroli of Maharashtra on Monday.

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Hailing from Chhattisgarh, Vargeesh (28) and Magtu (32) were inducted into the committees by a seasoned leader, Mailarapu Bhaskar alias Adellu, as part of expansion of the armed movement in 2018. Subsequently, they were handed over responsibilities of expansion of the party in erstwhile Adilabad district, once a strong bastion for the outfit between 1980 and 2000.

“Vargeesh developed his own network of sympathisers and informants over a period of time. He attained command over the landscape and could create contacts in forest-fringe villages,” a senior police official involved in anti-Maoist operations said.

“The committees are comparatively weak now and would vanish in the short future due to lack of sympathisers, while ties between Maoists and public soured and with the advent of networks telecom operators in remote parts,” he reasoned.

Drifting towards Kumram Bheem Asifabad district and returning to Maharashtra have become a tough task, considering intense combing operations by Grey Hounds and the robust intelligence system developed by the Special Intelligence Bureau, apart from application of modern technology such as drone-based surveillance system on bordering areas and entry points on the banks of Pranahita river.

Similarly, no fresh recruitments of members of the bands were taken, while conditions are unfavorable to recruit new members for the extremists. Adellu and Bandi Prakash, both state committee members, are aging and may actively not participate in the operations of the party. They are learnt to be confined to Chattisgarh and have become a burden for the outfit, officials said.

Earlier, Chukkalu (21) from Chhattisgarh and Jugnaka Bade Rao (19), a native of Addala Thimmapur village in Neradigonda mandal in Adilabad district were killed in an alleged exchange of fire occurred between police and the Maoists in the forests of Kadamba village in Kaghaznagar mandal in September 2022. Athram Shobhan alias Charles was also killed in an exchange of fire with the police in Gadchiroli in 2016.