Chhattisgarh: Locals, activists call Abhujmaad encounter staged, police reject claims

Raipur, Dec 18 (PTI) An activist and villagers have alleged that the encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district last week wherein police claimed to have killed 7 Naxalites was staged and five of those killed were locals working in fields.

They also claimed that four minors, including a girl, who were injured during the encounter in the Abhujmaad region suffered wounds due to firing by police.

Rejecting the claims, police said the four minors sustained injuries in firing by Naxalites and that Maoists used them as human shields during the gunfight.

On December 12, police had claimed that seven Naxalites, including two women, were killed in an encounter with a joint team of security personnel on hills of Kalhaja-Donderbeda village in south Abhujmaad along the border of Narayanpur and Dantewada districts. Later, the cops said all seven carried rewards.

Ramchandra, alias Kartik, alias Dasru, a member of the Odisha state committee of Maoists who carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh, and Ramila Madkam, alias Kosi, an area committee member who carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh, were among the neutralised cadres, police had said.

“On December 13 night, I learnt that some children have been injured in police firing following which I visited the area on December 14 and got the injured children admitted to hospital,” tribal activist Soni Sori told PTI.

According to locals, security personnel opened fire on them on December 11 at around 9 am when they were working in fields on hills near Kummam and Lekawada villages under Rekhawaya Panchayat in Narayanpur district. Some of them sustained injuries, while many escaped, she said.

After police shared pictures claiming them to be the Maoists killed in the encounter, it came to light that five of them were villagers who were working in their fields and only Ramchandra and Ramila were Naxalites, she said.

“On December 14, I shifted Ramli Oyam (13), Sonu Oyam (9) and Chaitram Oyam (12) to Bhairamgarh hospital (Bijapur district) from where they were referred to Dantewada district hospital. Later, Ramli was taken to Jagdalpur and further shifted to Raipur. She is currently admitted to DKS Super Specialty Hospital Raipur,” Sori said.

On December 15, another injured boy, Raju Nandam (13), was shifted to Bhairamgarh from where he was taken to Jagdalpur for further treatment, the activist said.

Sori accused the police of targeting innocent tribals, including children, under the pretext of eliminating Naxalism.

Ramli’s father told PTI in Raipur, “Police opened indiscriminate firing. My daughter was playing when she sustained injuries in police firing. No Naxalites were present there.” Narayanpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabhat Kumar said Naxalites used some villagers, including minors, as human shields to save the lives of their senior cadres which led to the children sustaining injuries.

Security forces on December 10 launched an operation based on inputs about the presence of senior Maoist leader and Maad division in-charge Alluri Krishna Kumari and 50-60 cadres near Rekhawaya, Idwada, Kalhaja, Dhondharbeda, Lekawada, Kondakoti and Brehbeda villages, he said.

The exchange of fire between security forces and Naxalites took place between 8 am and 3 pm on December 12, he said.

After some Naxalites got injured during the encounter, Maoists used some villagers and minors as human shields and started firing indiscriminately at the security forces to evacuate their injured cadres, Kumar said.

The security forces adopted “Fire Control Tactics” so that the persons being used as human shields do not get harmed, he said. Maoists then managed to escape into dense forest along with the injured cadres and the villagers whom they had used as human shields, the official said.

After learning about the injury to four minors in firing by Naxalites, security forces shifted the children to higher centres for treatment, he said.

It was prima facie found that Maoists used their members of Gram Raksha Dal, militia, some minors and villagers as human shields. This resulted in injuries to these four minors, he said.

Police have received information that many more Naxalites were injured in the December 12 encounter and they are being treated in the nearby forested area, the SP said, adding that the inputs are being verified.

Amid the allegations by villagers and activist Sori, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel cast aspersions on the encounter.

“How come these children were hurt when the forces were fighting the Naxals? Was it truly an encounter or the killing of innocent people? The BJP government has a poor record regarding fake encounters. Even during its last tenure, there were numerous cases of such incidents,” he said in a post on X.

The Centre should take this matter seriously and instruct the state government to exercise caution, said Baghel.

“Innocent tribal people should not be harmed in the pursuit of overambitious plans to eradicate the Maoists within unreasonable deadlines,” Baghel wrote in the post.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the Chhattisgarh police have secured a significant achievement in the fight against Naxalism this year by neutralising 287 Naxalites and arresting around 1,000 in the state, while 837 others surrendered.

He said the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government were committed to eradicating the menace of Naxalism from the state before March 31, 2026. PTI TKP NR