Bhavnagar: A CoBRA commando hailing from Devgana village in Sihor taluka laid down his life during an anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Thursday, May 22, 2025.

The martyred soldier, Mehulkumar Solanki, was part of the 210th CoBRA Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). His sacrifice has plunged his family, especially his father, Nandlalbhai Solanki, into deep grief.

The operation followed a major crackdown just a day earlier, when 27 Maoists, including Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju, the general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist), were killed in an encounter in Narayanpur district.

Acting on intelligence about Maoist presence in the Tumrel area near the Sukma-Bijapur border, a joint team of CoBRA commandos, District Reserve Guard (DRG), and Special Task Force (STF) launched a search operation on Wednesday, May 21.

“A gunfight has been underway intermittently since Thursday morning. During the operation, security forces recovered the body of a Maoist, weapons, and other Naxal-related materials from the site. Efforts are on to identify the deceased Maoist,” a senior police official stated.

Three commandos from the 210th CoBRA Battalion were injured in the encounter. Mehul was among them and died, while the other two were moved to Raipur for further care. DeshGujarat