A police jawan was injured in a gunbattle between security personnel and Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district, police said on Thursday.
The face-off took place in a dense forest of Idwaya village under Orchha police station limits on Wednesday evening, a senior police official told PTI.
A joint team of Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Group (DRG) and district force carried out the combing operation near a drain in the region, he said.
Assistant constable Gajendra Singh Dhruv was injured when the security personnel reached Aader forests, located around 450 kms away from the state capital, and a group of armed rebels opened indiscriminate fire on them.
A gunbattle then broke out between the two sides that lasted for about an hour, following which the ultras fled from the spot taking advantage of the darkness, he said. Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured jawan was evacuated from the forest.
After being given primary treatment, the injured policeman was airlifted to Raipur on Thursday morning and admitted to Ram Krishna Care hospital, he said.
While cordoning-off the encounter spot, four muzzle loading guns and Maoist-related materials were recovered, the police official said.
He said they suspect that ultras might have been either killed or injured in the gunbattle as blood stains were spotted in that area.