Mumbai:
Inspector Ashish Sharma of the Madhya Pradesh Police’s elite anti-Naxal unit, the Hawk Force, was martyred in action during an early-morning encounter with armed Naxal cadres in the dense forests near the MP–Chhattisgarh–Maharashtra tri-junction on Wednesday.
The slain police official, Ashish Sharma (40), a decorated officer with two gallantry medals, sustained fatal bullet injuries in the thigh and abdomen while leading the Hawk Force (a specialised counter-insurgency unit of the MP police) team in a coordinated operation with Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra police.
The gunfight reportedly broke out around 8.30 am near the Kauhapani forests of Rajnandgaon district where security forces from both Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, acting on specific intelligence, moved into a heavily forested area in Chhattisgarh territory where a large Naxal group had been sighted.
As per sources, an air ambulance had been arranged to shift him to a specialised facility, but he succumbed before evacuation.
The incident occurred on the heels of security forces neutralising top Maoist commander Madvi Hidma in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.
