Two Naxalites gunned down in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh
Bijapur (PTI): Two Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district in the early hours of Saturday, police said.
The gun battle broke out around 5 am in a forest in the southern region of the district when a team from the District Reserve Guard, a unit of the Chhattisgarh police, was out on an anti-Naxalite operation based on information about the presence of Maoist cadres in the area, an official said.
Bodies of two Naxalites were recovered from the scene, he said.
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The intermittent exchange of fire was still underway, and further details were awaited, the official said.
As many as 285 Naxalites were gunned down in separate encounters with security forces in Chhattisgarh last year.
Of them, 257 were eliminated in the Bastar division, comprising seven districts, including Bijapur, while 27 others were gunned down in Gariaband district, which falls in the Raipur division.
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No 'VIP' involved in Ankita Bhandari murder case: Haridwar SP
Dehradun (PTI): Amid demands for a CBI probe into the Ankita Bhandari murder case, Haridwar SP (Rural) Shekhar Suyal on Saturday said that no "VIP" was found involved during the investigation.
Suyal told reporters here that the person whose name came up in the chats and during questioning, was a friend of Ankita, Dharmendra Kumar alias Pradhan, a resident of Noida. He was not a VIP, the officer said.
"During the investigation, police questioning revealed that he had come to the area for some work two days before Ankita's murder and had stopped at the Vanantra Resort for a short time to have a meal," he said.
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Suyal said that this was confirmed by the resort's records and questioning of the staff.
Urmila Sanawar, who claims to be the wife of former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore, recently released videos and audio recordings of her alleged conversations with Rathore, alleging that the 'VIP' in the Ankita Bhandari murder case is a person named 'Gattu'.
In another video, she identified Gattu as a top BJP leader in Uttarakhand.
Rathore, who was expelled from the BJP, said that his voice was generated using AI, and the audios have been widely shared with the intention of tarnishing his political image.
The Uttarakhand government on Friday said it was ready for any investigation into the Ankita Bhandari murder case "if credible evidence is presented".
Opposition leaders have demanded a CBI probe into the new allegations and the murder case, in which three people were sentenced to life imprisonment following an SIT investigation.
Ankita, who worked as a receptionist at a resort in Pauri district, was allegedly murdered on September 18, 2022. The state government had constituted an SIT to investigate the case.
The court sentenced Pulkit Arya, the owner of the resort and son of a BJP leader, and two others to life imprisonment in the case.
