2 min readRaipurUpdated: May 2, 2026 06:15 PM IST
Four personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker were killed on Saturday when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded while they were attempting to defuse it.
This is the first incident in which security personnel have been killed in Chhattisgarh following the Union Home Ministry’s March 31 deadline to end Left-wing extremism, for which there had been a massive push over the last couple of years in which several Maoists were killed and several others, including top leaders, surrendered.
On Saturday, a team from Kanker district’s DRG launched an operation in the jungle area of Chhotebethiya, which was earlier a Maoist stronghold and formed the entrance to Abujhmad from the Kanker side.
“The operation was undertaken for demining IEDs, area domination and search operation for a few low cadres Naxals,” said an official.
During the demining operation, four DRG personnel suffered serious injuries in an IED explosion. “They were attempting to defuse an IED when it exploded accidentally,” the official added.
Three personnel, Inspector Sukhram Vatti, Constable Krishna Komra, and Constable Sanjay Gadhpale, succumbed to their injuries on the spot. Constable Parmanand Komra was rushed to a medical facility with serious injuries and died later during treatment.
Inspector General of Police for Bastar range, Sundarraj Pattalingam, said, “Over the past few months, based on information provided by surrendered Maoist cadres and other inputs, hundreds of IEDs previously hidden by Maoists had been recovered and neutralised by police and security forces in the Bastar range. However, today, this unfortunate incident took place.”
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Since 2024, when Union Home Minister Amit Shah set the March 31, 2026, deadline, anti-Maoist operations were stepped up in Chhattisgarh. Between 2024 and 2026, over 500 Maoists were killed. In the same period, the number of security personnel killed in Maoist-related violence was 42. As many as 119 civilians were also killed in this period.
