SAA event in Chhattisgarh, Keshkutul Forest, Bijapur District area, India on Wed 3rd December 2025

Twenty-one persons, including 18 cadres of the Communist Party of India–Maoist (CPI-Maoist), were killed in a major anti-Maoist operation in the Keshkutul Forest under the Bhairamgarh Police Station limits in Bijapur District in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh on December 3, reports Telangana Today. Three Security Force (SF) personnel were killed and two others were injured in the encounter. SFs recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition from the encounter site, including a Light Machine Gun (LMG), an AK-47 rifle, a Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), an INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle, a .303 rifle, and other weapons. The Maoist People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) second company ‘commander’ of the Bijapur West Bastar Division and Divisional Committee Member (DVCM), Modiyam Vella, who was carrying a bounty of INR 800,000, was among the dead. The bodies of three Bijapur District Reserve Guards (DRG) personnel, Head Constable Monu alias Mohan Baddi, and Constables Dukaru Gonde and Ramesh Sodi, were shifted to the Police Line Shaheed Vatika Complex in Bijapur, where last respects were paid to them. Two injured jawans, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Janardan Korram and Constable Somdev Yadav, were reported to be out of danger. An intensive search operation was carried out by the SFs at the encounter site, and additional forces were dispatched to the area, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Bastar, Kamlochan Kashyap, said.