Chhattisgarh: Police sub-inspector killed, constable injured in gun battle with naxals

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Rajnandgaon: A police sub-inspector was on Sunday killed and a constable was injured in a gun-battle with naxals in insurgency-hit forest area of Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district.

The skirmish took place this afternoon when a specialised unit of the district force was out on an anti-maoist operation in the jungle of Gatapar police station area, Inspector General of Police (Durg Range) Dipanshu Kabra told PTI.

A team of E-30, an anti-naxal force of district police, was cordoning off the forests near Bhave village, over 150 kms from here, when it came under heavy fire from a group of ultras, leading to the encounter.

However, on finding security personnel zeroing on them, the rebels fled into core forests, he said.

"A sub-inspector of police Yugal Kishore Verma was killed in the incident while constable Krish Sahu sustained injuries," the official added.

After being informed of the incident, reinforcements were being rushed to the spot and the body of slain official was being recovered from the forest. The injured jawan was also being evacuated, he said.

A 2008 batch SI rank official, Verma was resident of Palari area in the state's Balodabazar district.

A major portion of Rajnandgaon is bordering Gondia and Gadchiroli (Maharashtra) and Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh) where maoist activities have been continuously reported.

As per the maoist documents recovered recently from Bastar region, naxals are now trying to set up their new base in this tri-junction region.