Bijapur: In a significant breakthrough for anti-Naxal operations, a high-ranking Maoist leader identified as Bhaskar, alias Mailarapu Adellu, was killed during an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Friday. The operation took place in the Indravati National Park area, as per initial confirmation from senior officials.

Bhaskar, a key member of the Special Zonal Committee of the Telangana State Committee of the banned CPI (Maoist), carried a combined bounty of ₹45 lakh—₹25 lakh from Chhattisgarh and ₹20 lakh from Telangana. A native of Adilabad district, he held the post of secretary for the Mancherial-Komarambheem (MKB) division of the group.

The encounter was part of an ongoing large-scale anti-Naxal mission that began Wednesday. Personnel from the Chhattisgarh police’s Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Guard (DRG), and the CRPF’s elite CoBRA unit were involved in the operation.

Following the exchange of fire, security forces recovered Bhaskar’s body, along with an AK-47 rifle, explosives, and other arms. His identity was confirmed based on preliminary assessment.

This marks the third major success for security forces in just two weeks. On Thursday, top Maoist ideologue Sudhakar, with a ₹40 lakh reward, was neutralised in the same area. Earlier, on May 21, CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju was also killed in Narayanpur.

Authorities reaffirm that their objective is to eliminate the Naxal threat in the region by March 2026.