Dreaded woman Maoist gunned down in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR: Maoist leader Jamuna, a hard-core guerilla accused in the murder of Madhya Pradesh minister L ikhiram Kawre in December 1999, was gunned down in Chhattisgarh's Gatapar region on Tuesday.
Jamuna, 45, carried a reward of 5 lakh and was one of the most experienced and feared rebels in these parts, having joined the Maoists 25 years ago. She ran an armed unit as Tanda area committee secretary and was active on the MP-Chhattisgarh border.
For long on the crosshairs of security forces, she had a narrow escape in January this year, but her luck ran out on Tuesday in an operation carried out jointly by MP Hawk Force and Chhattisgarh police. Jamuna was on CBI's most wanted list ever since Kawre's murder. Maoists had severed his head with a saw and dumped the body in front of his house in Balaghat on December 16, 1999.
The nation was shocked. His daughter, Hina Kawre, who was a 15-year-old then, is now the deputy Speaker in the Madhya Pradesh assembly. Jamuna death comes just 12 days after high court acquitted all seven accused in Likhiram Kawre's murder.
Security forces had been tracking her closely, and got a break on the intervening night of March 18-19.
"Based on inputs about movement of Maoists in Gatapar region of Rajnandgaon, an anti-Maoist operation was launched and police teams were dispatched in different directions on Monday night," IG-Durg Range Himanshu Gupta told TOI.
"A joint team of STF, Chhattisgarh Armed Force and district police, led by Gatapar police station inspector Laxman Kewat, and Madhya Pradesh Hawks entered the forests of Gatapar around noon. They came under heavy fire, and retaliated, leading to a gunfight that lasted one and a half hours," Gupta said. Outgunned, the Maoists ran into the forests.