Two top Maoists held in Malkangiri gunfight

Malkangiri | Desk: The Malkangiri District Police arrested two senior Maoist cadres during a late-night operation on the intervening night of June 12 and 13, 2025.

Acting on credible intelligence about the movement of CPI (Maoist) members near Sodiguda and Tentuliguda villages under Mathili Police Station limits, a special police team launched a combing operation.

In the early hours of June 13, the team spotted a group of Maoists attempting to flee into the forest.

When asked to surrender, the Maoists opened fire. The police exercised restraint and retaliated in self-defence.

After a brief chase and search operation, two top Maoist operatives were successfully apprehended while hiding in nearby bushes, while the rest managed to escape into the jungle.

The arrested Maoists have been identified as Kesa Kawasi, a senior member (ACM) of the Kanger Ghati Area Committee and resident of Chandametta village in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, and Rakesh alias Suna Kunjam, ACM of the AOB Military Platoon Section-01, hailing from Tamod village in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh.

The police recovered a large cache of arms and Maoist materials from the spot, including one pistol with six rounds of ammunition, ten electric detonators, 10 metres of codex wire, 50 grams of gunpowder, steel containers, one radio, one Motorola walkie-talkie with spare battery, torch lights, two small axes, a black polythene sheet, and Maoist literature.

During interrogation, Kesa Kawasi revealed that he joined the Maoist outfit in 2010 at the age of 17 through the Balsangham wing and gradually rose in rank through various local organizational squads (LOS) in Mahupadar, Gupteswar, and Cut-off areas, eventually becoming a full ACM. He admitted to being involved in multiple violent incidents, including exchanges of fire at Goiguda, Totaguda, Ghodabeda, Bengpani, and Kunadabba, and a series of cases registered in Odisha’s Koraput and Malkangiri districts, related to police firings, IED attacks, and civilian killings. He is wanted in at least 10 Maoist cases in Odisha, including serious charges under the Arms Act, UAPA, and Explosives Substances Act.

Rakesh alias Suna Kunjam, the second arrested cadre, joined Maoist ranks in 2009 at the age of 14 and started with Bal Sangham. He later became part of the Maoist cultural wing Chetna Natya Mandali (CNM) and subsequently joined guerrilla squads.

He received weapons training and was promoted to ACM in 2021 while operating in the Pamed area and later the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) zone. He confessed to involvement in several major Maoist attacks, including the Timinar encounter (2017) where eight Maoists were killed, the Kotapahad encounter (2023), the Kunadabba operation (2023), the Arra encounter (2024), and ambushes in Boilathila and Dharmavaram, among others.

He is also an accused in several cases filed under Mathili Police Station, particularly for attacks on Special Operation Group (SOG) teams in 2021.

Both individuals are confirmed to have been actively involved in numerous anti-national and anti-government activities across Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. Police said further investigation is ongoing to trace their extended network and establish their involvement in other cases. Their arrest is seen as a major step towards weakening Maoist operations in the region.