The incident took place in a heavily forested location under Kistaram police station in Dantewada district, some 500 km south of capital Raipur.
“The four-seater police chopper was about to take off, when the rebels fired on two policemen of the District Force (DF) who were on the ground,” Pawan Deo, deputy inspector general at the police headquarters, told IANS. The killed policeman was identified as Laxmi Narayan Dhruv. The injured cop was taken to hospital in a critical condition, Deo added.
Police sources said the chopper was damaged partially as it had received at least two gun shots, but it managed to take off and landed in the evening at Jagdalpur town in Bastar region, some 200 km from the attack site.
The helicopter belongs to a private company but had been hired by the police department for anti-Maoist operations. The police had sent it to a Maoist stronghold for stocking of rations for the local policemen and bringing back a few ailing cops to urban areas for treatment.