Nine states share intel on controlling Maoist-related problems

[Hindustani78]

Immediate help: Policemen rush injured Special Task Force personnel to hospital after an IAF chopper airlifted them to Raipur from the encounter site on Saturday
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...killed-in-sukma-encounter/article19143250.ece

DGP says 15 to 20 Maoists gunned down in Operation Prahar
Two policemen were killed and five Special Task Force personnel were injured in Sukma district of South Chhattisgarh on Saturday during an anti-Maoist operation by security forces.

D.M. Awasthi, special Director General of Police, Anti-Naxal Operations Unit of Chhattisgarh Police, said 15 to 20 Maoists were killed in Operation Prahar. He said, “We launched two anti-Maoist operations on Friday. One in Bijapur and the other one in Sukma, where we deputed 1,500 personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force, Special Task Force, District Reserve Guard and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action.

“An encounter took place on Saturday morning near Tondamarka village, considered the headquarters of the Maoists’ military battalion number 1.”

He said, “About 15 to 20 Maoists were killed in the encounter. We have recovered the body of one Maoist and a self loading rifle, suggesting he was a big Maoist commander. Two District Reserve Guards were killed in fresh firing at 4 p.m. Five STF men were injured in the morning. The firing is still on in the area.” The DGP also said, “Some of our jawans were injured while trying to recover the bodies of the Maoists.”

The injured STF men were moved to Raipur in an Indian Air Force chopper. IAF spokesperson B.K. Pande said, “The Task Force Commander of the IAF sent a helicopter as news came in about the jawans sustaining bullet injuries. The area was a high threat zone close to the operations area. As the nearest helipad for Mi-17 operations was at a distance away, it was decided to sent helicopters to evacuate the casualties from site of the encounter. Two helicopters with a medical team on board left for the site at 12.50 p.m. The five jawans were safely airlifted to Raipur for treatment, the helicopters flying more than two hours in the process.”

An injured STF jawan told reporters at a hospital in Raipur that more than 300 Maoists were involved in the attack at Tondamarka.

In the operation in Bijapur district, security forces gunned down one Maoist and recovered his body. In a separate incident, security forces arrested seven alleged Maoists from Dantewada district.

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...killed-in-sukma-operation/article19142092.ece
SDGP says 15-20 Maoists killed
Two policemen were killed and five STF men injured in the Sukma district of south Chhattisgarh.“We launched two major anti-Maoist operations on Friday — one in Bijapur district and the other in Sukma district. In Sukma district, we had deputed around 1,500 security personnel. Around 15-20 Maoists were killed in ‘Operation Prahar’. Two DRG jawans were martyred during a fresh firing at 4 p.m. Five STF men were injured in the morning. Firing is still going on in that area,” D.M. Awasthi, the Special Director General of Police (SDGP) of the Anti-Naxal Operations (ANO) unit of Chhattisgarh Police told The Hindu.

“Some of our jawans were injured while trying to recover the bodies of the Maoists,” the top official revealed.

Five STF men, who were injured in the firing in morning, were airlifted to Raipur by an Indian Air Force chopper.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...a-encounter/article19485229.ece?homepage=true

Two Naxals were on Sunday killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Sukma district, police said.

The skirmish took place in the jungles of Kistaram police station area when a joint team of security personnel was out on a counter-insurgency operation, Special Director General of Police (anti-Maoist operations) D.M. Awasthi told PTI.

Based on specific inputs about movement of militants, the composite squad of the Special Task Force (STF) and the District Reserve Guard launched the operation late on Saturday night in Kistaram area, around 500 km from Rajpur, he said.

The team came under heavy fire from Naxals on Sunday morning in the forests, leading to the gunbattle, Mr. Awasthi said.

After the Naxals fled, two bodies of their comrades, besides a muzzle loading gun and a country-made pistol, were recovered from the spot, he said.

Further details are awaited.

 

[Hindustani78]

File photo of Ganjam police with weapons seized from a Maoist camp.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...niversaries/article19486639.ece?homepage=true

Police personnel in the Ganjam and Berhampur police districts in Odisha will have to avail five compulsory days off every year to ease their professional stress and strain.

They are now required to take leave on the days of their wedding anniversary, and the birthdays of their self, spouse and two children. This compulsory leave with pay is meant to enable police personnel to spend quality time with their family.

Such an initiative has been taken up in Odisha for the first time by Ashis Singh, the Superintendent of Police (SP) who is in charge of both these police districts. A circular to this effect has has been already issued in the Berhampur police district. A similar circular will be issued for the Ganjam police district on August 15, Mr. Singh said.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Singh said that this was a small measure to acknowledge the toil of police personnel even on holidays and festivals, when all other citizens enjoy life with their families. Usually, police personnel face complaints and critical remarks from their children and wives instead. “I felt police personnel and their family, who sacrifice their own enjoyment for safety and security of society, should also get chance to enjoy some time together,” said Mr. Singh.

The administration of both these police districts is also thinking of providing gifts and messages of goodwill on these special days. A data base of marriage anniversaries and birthdays of police personnel and their family members is being prepared in both districts.

 

[Hindustani78]

BHADRADRI-KOTHAGUDEM, August 12, 2017 23:16 IST
Updated: August 12, 2017 23:18 IST
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...down-arms-in-bhadrachalam/article19482969.ece

Sodi Devaiah alias Mallesh is involved in 21 cases
Even as the police stepped up focus on ensuring surrender of Maoist cadre operating in Bhadrachalam Agency along the inter-State border with Chhattisgarh, a “commander-rank” Maoist cadre turned himself in before the police in Bhadrachalam on Saturday.

CPI (Maoist) Manuguru local organising squad (LOS) commander Sodi Devaiah alias Mallesh, 22, of the rank of the area committee member, surrendered before Bhadrachalam Assistant Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt, police sources said.

The Manuguru LOS commander’s surrender comes close on the heels of Sodi Nandhu, 25, a Maoist cadre of the same rank operating on Telangana-Andhra Pradesh border, giving himself up before the police in Bhadrachalam over a week ago. Devaiah is a native of Rallagatta, an interior tribal habitation, in Charla mandal. He was allegedly involved in 21 cases of Maoist violence under the jurisdiction limits of Charla, Dummugudem and Venkatapuram police stations.

Police claimed that his surrender was a result of consistent efforts by them to persuade the Maoist cadre through their family members to join the mainstream and lead a normal life with the latter.

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...2-maoists-in-chhattisgarh/article19486505.ece

Camp destroyed, weapons seized
Two alleged members of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI-M) were killed during a gun battle with the police in the Sukma district of south Chhattisgarh on Sunday.

“An exchange of fire took place today morning between the Maoists and (a joint team of) the District Reserve Guard and the Special Task Force of Chhattisgarh police near Kasaram village under the Kistaram Police Station limits of Sukma. Two Maoists were killed in the encounter and their dead bodies recovered along with weapons,” said Assistant Inspector General of Police Devnath of the Anti-Naxal Operation (ANO) unit, Chhattisgarh.

In a separate incident, the Maharashtra Police destroyed a Maoist camp on the border of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, and recovered weapons and horses.

“A special police team headed by Additional Superintendent of Police (Operations) Mr. Maheshwar Reddy, launched an anti-Maoist operation in the Abujhmad area on the border of the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh after receiving some specific inputs about a Maoist camp in the area. This team had an encounter with the Maoists near the Tundewra and Kupnar villages and forced them to flee from the spot of their camp, leaving behind weapons and six horses. Six weapons and other material of daily use were recovered from the campsite,” Gadchiroli district Superintendent of Police in a press release.

This is the first time horses have been found in a Maoist camp.

 

[Hindustani78]

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...ay-one-held/story-aeGJRFN3tsMBmvMDUSEZLP.html
Amid heightened security arrangements in the region for Independence Day, an arms dealer was arrested in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district and a huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized from him, police said on Monday.

The seizure took place in Murshidabad district’s Baharampur, around 200 km from Kolkata, on Sunday night.

“Dhiren Haldar (38), a resident of Nadia district’s Tehatta, was arrested from Baharampur on Sunday night. We have seized five 5 mm pistols, two one shutters and a double barrel gun along with 150 cartridges from the accused,” the Inspector in-charge of Baharampur police station told IANS.

“Keeping in mind the Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday, the security arrangements and police patrolling has been intensified in the region. Rs one lakh in cash was also seized from the accused,” he added.

According to police, Haldar during his interrogation confessed that he gathered all the weapons from Malda and was supposed to smuggle them to Bangladesh.

“The accused was produced before the Baharampur court on Monday. He has been remanded to seven days police custody,” the officer added.

 

[Hindustani78]

More than 25 Lakhs rupees and half kg Gold recovered from two CPI-Maoist members arrested by Ranchi Police in Ranchi on Thursday. PTI Photo

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...h-none-hurt/story-nmGcyxwiXFhB0R6vy7JqdM.html

Maoists torched a bus after asking the passengers travelling in it to alight in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, a senior police official said on Friday.

No passenger was injured in the incident, he said.

Last evening, a private bus was on its way to Bareguda from Jagdalpur district headquarters when five to six rebels, dressed as civilians, stopped the vehicle in the Nalampalli forest area near Todempara village, around 450 kms from the state capital, the official told PTI.

The Maoists asked the passengers to get down from the bus following which they set it ablaze, he said.

Security men rushed to the spot upon receiving information about the incident, the official said.

A combing operation has been launched in the region to nab the attackers.

On May 30 this year, Maoists had torched an empty passenger bus in Narayanpur district, opposing the construction of a road in the Abujhmaad region considered as a Maoist den.

In February, the rebels had set on fire a private passenger bus each in Bijapur and Dantewada districts during a bandh call given by them.

The police official said the agenda of the Maoists is to keep villagers away from towns and development block headquarters.

The rebels commit offences like torching the buses to create a sense of fear among the people so that they refrain from using the local means of transport, he said.

The incidents of buses being set on fire by them were mostly reported in the areas where development works, including road construction, were underway, the official said.

 

[Hindustani78]

VISAKHAPATNAM, September 09, 2017 00:45 IST
Updated: September 09, 2017 00:45 IST
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...-movers-in-andhra-pradesh/article19646965.ece

‘They wanted to send a message of support to Vakapalli rape victims’
Members of the CPI (Maoist) torched four earth-moving equipment (two each in Nurmati and Pulusumamidi) in the G. Madugula mandal of Visakhapatnam Agency on Thursday night.

Visakhapatnam SP Rahul Dev Sharma said about 10 armed militia members visited the villages between 10.30 p.m. and 12 a.m. and torched the equipment parked on the outskirts. No one was hurt in the incident.

DIG of Visakhapatnam Range Ch. Srikanth said the earth movers were not engaged in road construction. They were being used by a contractor to lay the BSNL’s optic fibre cable. “Maoists generally destroy equipment used for laying roads. Their action could be intentional or even a mistake,” he said.

What is worrying the police is the timing and location of the action. Nurmati and Pulusumamidi are close to Vakapalli, the village that grabbed national attention after the September 1 Supreme Court order calling for the speedy trial of 13 police personnel from the State accused of gang rape.

A few senior officers feel the Maoists are sending out a message, endorsing their support for the rape victims.

A bait?

The torching of the equipment is the biggest incident in recent times. The last such incident was reported in the Pedabayalu region six months ago. The latest action indicates the increased presence of Maoists in the area after monsoon.

A senior police officer said the incident could also be a bait to lure the forces into the forest for a probable ambush. The police are aware of the presence of a few top leaders such as central committee member Chalapathi and Gajarla Ravi or Uday, in charge of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee.

 

[Hindustani78]

Maoists asked passengers to disembark from the bus before setting it on fire in Bijapur on Thursday.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...en-fire-at-cops-torch-bus/article19653468.ece

Injured airlifted to Nagpur for treatment
One policeman was seriously injured in a Maoist attack in Korchi division of Gadchiroli district on Friday.

The Maoists opened fire at police constables Manit Harami and Ashish Madavi who were in plain clothes and were travelling to Korchi from Kotgul village on a motorcycle. Mr. Madavi was wounded in the firing and airlifted to Nagpur for treatment.

In a separate incident, Maoists stopped a private bus belonging to Vishwanath Travels on Bhopalpatnam-Bareguda road, asked passengers to disembark and set it on fire in Bijapur district on Thursday night.

 

[Hindustani78]

The encounter took place between the state’s elite Special Operation Group and the Maoists in Milicia reserve forest.(File)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...d-in-odisha/story-UkZ5bDs1vnde9xSuhj4fyH.html


A Maoist was killed and two jawans of an anti-insurgency force were injured in an encounter between the militants and the security personnel in Odisha’s Kandhamal district, police said.

The encounter took place between the state’s elite Special Operation Group (SOG) and the Maoists in Milicia reserve forest, about 95 km from here, on Sunday evening.

Kandhamal SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said the Maoists opened indiscriminate fire and the SOG jawans retaliated.

One woman Maoist was killed, Mohapatra said. She was yet to be identified. The SP said her body has been brought to the district headquarter hospital for autopsy.

The injured SOG jawans, Bonzung Tomang and Bidyadhar Seth, have been referred to MKCG Medical College Hospital, Berhampur, he said.

Blood stains were found in some places of the encounter site and a pistol, explosives, utensils and medicines were seized from the spot.

Combing operation is underway in the areas, Mohapatra said.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...ed-in-chhattisgarh-weapons-recovered-4849123/
The police also recovered a 12 bore gun, a muzzle loading gun, 13 detonators, a radio set, a wireless set, codex wire, a couple of batteries, solar plates and some Maoist-related material from the spot, he said.

By: PTI | New Delhi | Published:September 18, 2017 12:24 pm

A preliminary investigation suggested that they were members of the Golapalli local organisation squad of the Maoists. 9File/Photo)

The police gunned down two Naxals in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, a senior official said on Monday. A team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-Maoist operation last night and advancing through Rasantong area, around 500 kms from Raipur, when the Naxals started firing on them, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Dantewada range) Sundarraj P told PTI. This led to a gun battle between the two sides, he said.


“After the exchange of fire stopped, bodies of two cadres clad in ‘uniform’ were recovered from the spot,” the DIG said.


The police also recovered a 12 bore gun, a muzzle loading gun, 13 detonators, a radio set, a wireless set, codex wire, a couple of batteries, solar plates and some Maoist-related material from the spot, he said.


The identity of the killed ultras was yet to be established, he said.


However, preliminary investigation suggested that they were members of the Golapalli local organisation squad of the Maoists, he added.

 

[Hindustani78]

Security forces personnel inspect the site of a solar plant that was allegedly blown up by the Maoists in Gaya on Tuesday.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...k-maoist-investment-links/article19717164.ece
VISAKHAPATNAM, September 20, 2017 00:38 IST
Updated: September 20, 2017 00:38 IST

₹25 lakh, gold bars recovered from two Naxals from Telangana arrested in Jharkhand recently

The arrest of Buriyari Narayana and Satyanarayan Reddy, Maoists from Telangana, in Jharkhand in the last week of August, has put the intelligence agencies on an alert and it is learnt that they are now probing the investment links of the banned CPI(Maoist), especially in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Based on close monitoring of the Maoists’ movements, the two were picked up by the Jharkhand police on August 30 from a hotel in Ranchi.

But what they recovered from the two Maoists had set the bells ringing at all SIB units in the Maoist-affected States.

The police recovered ₹25 lakh and about half-a-kg of gold in bars from the duo.

A senior officer from the intelligence department in Visakhapatnam said many top leaders were on the radar amid indications of investments in real estate and gold, through a chain of networks.

Buriyari Narayana was the brother of Buriyari Sudhakar, who is the chief of the CPI(Maoists) in Jharkhand. As per sources in the intelligence department, Narayana had met Sudhakar at a camp in the forest in Gumla district and was given the cash and gold to invest in real estate in various cities such as Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

The Maoists appear to have developed fondness for gold, as a contractor was caught at Ralagedda in Visakhapatnam agency in 2015 and the police recovered about 2 kg of gold coins from him.

On questioning, he had revealed that the gold was given by the Maoists to invest in real estate.

The Maoists use the contractors engaged in the business of tendu leaves and civil construction to stash away their cash. Post demonetisation, there was a huge rush to convert the liquid cash that was kept in the dumps into gold, said a senior police officer.

In most cases, it has also been seen that they use the link of former Maoists to invest on their behalf. In Visakhapatnam city itself, there are two such former Maoists who are into big-time real estate and quarrying business. “There is no confirmation yet, but we suspect that they have links with their former comrades,” said an officer from the Special Branch (Extremist wing).

Corruption rampant

There are many reports that corruption has seeped into the banned outfit that at one time had flourished on ideology.

As per reports, many senior leaders have investment links and they retain about 20 to 30% of what is collected in the form of extortion. “The entire leadership is not corrupt, there are still some committed persons, but with the weakening of both the Politburo and the Central Committee, the top rung committed leaders are not able to reign in the corrupt. And this is creating a rift among the leaders, who mostly hail from Andhra Pradesh and are from the upper caste, and the tribal cadres from Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The tribals are feeling that they are being used, while the leaders are enjoying the money,” said an officer, engaged in anti-Maoist operations in Andhra-Odisha Border.

Sources also suggest that there is also a growing rift between the MCCI cadres and leaders, who mostly hail from Bihar, and the present Maoist leadership.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) was formed in 2004 with the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist), People’s War (People’s War Group) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI). Sources say the MCCI cadres from Bihar are leading the corruption list, which is now also being taken up by cadres and leaders from Andhra and Telangana.

 

[Hindustani78]

Updated: Sep 23, 2017 18:54 IST

Ritesh Mishra
Hindustan Times, Raipur

Workers have completed building a crucial road through Maoist heartland that is expected to break the back of rebels in Chhattisgarh.(HT File Photo)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...t-heartland/story-Fvcrkkujyrd4pe28hWyZgI.html


Workers have completed building a crucial road through Maoist heartland that is expected to break the back of rebels in Chhattisgarh, the government said on Saturday.

Twelve Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed while guarding the Injiram-Bheji road in a Maoist ambush in March this year.

Police said the road, which was completed on Friday, would provide connectivity to Bastar’s heavily forested Sukma region, where government forces often find impregnable because of poor infrastructure. Around 1,000 paramilitary soldiers are guarding the road currently, spread over four camps.

“We have completed the first step of penetrating inside the Maoist stronghold. This road has taken many lives. In only two years 13 jawans died,” said DM Awasthi, special director general (anti-Naxal operations) and chairman of the Chhattisgarh Police Housing Corporation Limited (CPHCL) that was tasked with building the road.

Police said the road would be crucial in bringing development to a region where rebels thrive on sparse government presence and lack of development. The 20-kilometre road will give forces swift access to remote locations and aid combing operations to stave off guerilla tactics of the Maoists.

Officials said the next focus would be completing the Dornapal –Jagdagonda road, where 25 CRPF personnel died in April in a Maoist ambush. “Now our focus is only Dornapal –Jagdagonda road which will help us to dominate their territory,” Awasthi added.

Work on the Injiram-Bheji road began four years ago but the state’s public works department abandoned the project after building seven kilometers because no contractor was willing to take up the project. After that the CPHCL, an unit of the state police, took the charge of the work and finished the work – braving 72 improvised explosive devices that were planted by Maoists.

“After the attack, we worked very hard to complete this road. The CPHCL made the stretch a concrete cement (CC) one instead of a damur (tar) one to prevent digging by the Maoists. A CC road is costlier than a damur road but it is more difficult to dig. We know that Maoists will want to plant bombs,” said an engineer who worked on the project and didn’t want to be named.

Contractor Pramod Rathore, who oversaw the road work, told HT, “After the attack, we decided to speed-up the work and even worked in rainy seasons. The security personnel have helped us every day in completing the work. The road is made because of the dedication of the forces and we humbly dedicate this road to the jawan who lost their life in this process.”

 

[Hindustani78]

New Delhi , October 08, 2017 20:59 IST
Updated: October 08, 2017 21:16 IST
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...lled-bastar/article19824298.ece?homepage=true

The strategic technical command centre of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), has been shifted to the Naxal hotbed of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, in order to provide security forces an enhanced aerial surveillance to conduct anti-Maoist operations.

The centre, with about three dozen flying assets of various categories, has been recently moved “lock, stock and barrel” from the steel city of Bhilai in Durg district of the State to Jagdalpur in south Bastar, in vicinity of the worst Naxal violence-affected districts like Sukma and Dantewada.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has deployed about 40,000 troops, including teams of its special guerrilla action force Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), in Chhattisgarh and south Bastar area to conduct anti-Naxal operations.

“The UAV base has recently been shifted and activated in the heart of the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The idea to shift the technical command centre is to provide quick and long haul aerial reconnaissance to the anti-Naxal operations forces on ground like the CRPF, CoBRA and the State police,” a senior security official involved in the operation said.

The UAVs were earlier flying to Bastar from Bhilai, which is about 300 km away, and hence the amount of time taken to travel would defeat the purpose of conducting timely and precise operations.

The base is jointly manned and operated by the officials of the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), and the CRPF and the paramilitary force has been tasked to secure the air strip that is used to launch these ‘birds,’ the official added.

This is the second big strategic shift of assets, after the two deadly Naxal attacks on the CRPF men in Sukma district earlier this year.

The first, the official said, was the shifting of the CRPF central zone from Kolkata to State capital Raipur, soon after 37 CRPF men were ambushed by Maoists in a span of less than two months.

The base is now being expanded to hold more UAVs, as the CRPF recently got the government sanction to have at least 300 such flying assets in its establishment, with most of them being tasked to conduct surveillance sorties in the violence-hit states.

All varieties of UAVs will operate from this base, and a joint command centre receives real-time aerial feed and imagery at the base station in Jagdalpur, the official said.

Security forces deployed for operations in Sukma and Dantewada districts, are being provided quick and latest updates on the movement of Naxals, so they can move out and plan their task in real time, he added.

“The focus of Naxal operations is the Bastar region now. Recently, one fresh battalion of the CRPF has moved in the area. It is important to provide technical intelligence inputs and information to these units to perform better, without taking casualties on their side. The UAV base exactly does that,” the official said.