A court in Kanker has convicted five Maoists — including a couple who were carrying rewards of ₹33 lakh between them — for allegedly attacking a police team in 2015, said the police on Tuesday (September 8, 2026).

In its order dated Monday (September 7), the court of the Special Judge (NIA Act/Scheduled Offences), Kanker, sentenced Prabhakar, a Special Zonal Committee Member, and his wife Raje Kange, a Divisional Committee Member, to seven years in prison each, while Ramesh Kumar Kumeti, Shyam Nath Usendi and Chintu Ram Tamrakar were sentenced to five years each.

Regarding the incident, a senior police officer said that on September 7, 2015, 49 police personnel under the leadership of the then sub-inspector Mohan Nishad of Korar police station, Kanker district, had reached the Bhaisgaon-Nagramari hill area while searching for Maoists. During the search, CPI (Maoist) Prabhakar, Raje Kange and seven to eight other uniformed Maoists opened fire on the police party with the intention of snatching weapons from the police personnel and killing them. The police force immediately retaliated in self-defense. After the encounter, the Maoist fled from the spot.

Prabhakar and others were subsequently arrested and the prosecution submitted before the court that Prabhakar and others were members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and had attacked the police team with the intention of killing its members.

Convicting them, the court said that cases involving subversive activities cannot be treated like ordinary criminal cases, as they directly affect the unity and security of the nation. If the prosecution proves the charges against the perpetrator in court based on solid evidence, then statutory punishment is the rule in such serious and premeditated crimes. The accused have been charged with several such heinous crimes,” it said.

Kanker Superintendent of Police Nikhil Rakhecha said that Prabhakar Rao was carrying a reward of ₹25 lakh and his wife Raje Kange, a Maoist with a reward of ₹8 lakh, was working as DVCM Raoghat Area Committee in-charge in the organization and was active in the Maoist organization for about 40 years.