Chhattisgarh cops struggle to confirm Maoist leader’s death

RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Police have been struggling to confirm reports about the death of a top Maoist leader in the restive Bastar region.

“There are reports that Maoist leader Ganesh Uike has died of malaria but we are trying to confirm this. We are sure he was suffering from malaria recently and needed urgent medical help at his hideout at a Hiroli forested area in Dantewada district,” State Director General of Police (DGP) Vishwa Ranjan told IANS Sunday.

Uike, who coordinated several deadly attacks on security forces and civilians in the state, had been hiding for long in the forests of the mineral-rich Bastar region.

Bastar is considered as the nerve centre of Maoist guerrillas for the past three decades.