The Maoists holding ruling Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka hostage on Sunday extended the deadline for the fulfillment of their demands till April 18. In a message, a leader of Maoists' Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee set a new deadline of 5 pm on April 18 for the release of 29 rebels, said Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, a Koraput-based lawyer who fights cases for Maoists.
In a major achievement for Odisha police, top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda wanted in over 60 criminal cases, has been arrested prompting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to appeal to Naxals to eschew violence and join the mainstream
Documents seized by security forces in Maoist-hit Koraput district reveal that the rebels appear to have started training cadres to gun down helicopters used in ferrying security personnel for counter-insurgency operations.
'The Maoists realise it is impossible to keep themselves away from the gaze of the intelligence agencies. Any sincere intelligence agency can pick up their trail and can succeed.'
A senior Maoist leader identified as Anukul Chandra Naskar alias Pareshji, who is also a politburo member of the CPI (Maoist), was arrested by a joint team of the Andhra Pradesh Police and Assam Police.
Fifteen people, including 12 labourers, abducted by Maoists from Bihar's Jamui district were released in a jungle, the police said on Saturday.
The 39-year-old officer was bestowed with the PPMG, the highest police gallantry award, for skillfully killing a terrorist holed up in a building in Kashmir on June 21, 2020, officials said.
Activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, are likely to walk out of jail only next week after securing bail from the Supreme Court on Friday as certain formalities are to be completed before they are released, defence lawyers said in Mumbai.
A massive search operation was on for the four policemen kidnapped after Sunday's encounter with Maoists in Bihar's Lakhisarai district as the deadline for release of eight ultras in exchange for them expired on Wednesday.
2 senior commandos of Greyhounds were injured in the encounter that occurred during a routine combing operation.
The Maoists have launched a helpline on the foundation day of CPI (Maoist) for people to register grievances and complaints against any errant cadre, a Maoist leader said on Monday.
The Maoist threat should be taken with utmost seriously and the menace should be dealt with in every possible way, political leaders in Jharkhand opined.
In a significant ruling, the Kerala high court on Fridday said that being a Maoist is not a crime and police cannot detain a person merely because he is a Maoist.
The three-month ceasefire, announced by the Maoists on April 27, will be extended to facilitate the peace talks with the seven-party alliance government, said rebel spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara.
Three Maoists were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in a forest area of Odisha's Rayagada district, police said on Friday.
According to police sources, Maoist rebels attacked Bamdah Bazaar under Chandramandi police station killing two traders and injuring some others.
Odisha government, grappling with the hostage crisis, on Tuesday said some demands made by Maoists like halt to combing operations, have been conceded as prospects of the release of the lone Italian national seemed to have brightened.
A lack of understanding on how to tackle the Maoist challenge is adversely affecting security operations on the ground and not the inefficiency or inability of the security forces to put pressure on the Maoists, says former Chhattisgarh top cop Vishwa Ranjan.
Would the Maoists lose the support of the middle-class and urban intelligentsia by continuing to use kidnapping as a propaganda tool? Dr P V Ramana analyses
The Nepal Maoists on Tuesday began a process for fresh recruitment to its guerrilla force to counter the move of the national army to fill vacancies, a decision that threatens to derail the fragile peace process in the Himalayan nation.
In the footage, which was aired by a private news channel, Maoists' Karnataka state committee chief Chandrashekhar Gorebal said the Maoists were now attempting to spread around the Western Ghats in Karnataka.
Three Maoists were killed on Monday in an encounter by Special Task Force personnels assisted by Cobra battalion of Central Reserve Police Force in Bihar's Rohtas district.
Art of Living founder Sri Ravi Shankar on Friday had a talk with Maoist leader, Chakradhar Mahato, and persuaded the group to lay down their arms.
A high alert has been sounded in all 14 police station areas in Orissa's Kandhamal district following the revelation by an arrested Maoist that an attack by the ultras was being planned. The Maoist, Jagannath Nayak, was arrested from village Kerubadi under Daringbadi police station five days ago. He has told interrogators that 150 Koya Kondh Maoists from neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were being trained in the jungles of Kandhamal for the operation.
The attackers snatched the walkie-talkie of the station master, and forced staff of a goods train standing outside the station to shut down the engine.
The Maoists on Friday demanded an independent probe into the circumstances leading to the death of their top leader Kishenji in West Midnapore district.
A cache of weapons was recovered from the encounter site
A controversy erupted on Tuesday after the opposition parties tagged a video of DMK leader A Raja purportedly showing him making remarks that India has never been a nation, but a subcontinent with diverse practices and cultures, prompting strong response from the BJP which described the comments as a call for 'balkanisation' of the the country and demanded for his arrest.
Two days after four Maoist leaders were killed in Sadiya in eastern Assam bordering Arunachal Pradesh in first ever major operation against Maoists in the state, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said that the Maoists have already set up bases in all upper Assam districts and were expanding towards other parts of the state.
Nepali Maoists have infiltrated into India with the locals spotting such cadres in Orissa's Malkangari district bordering Chhattisgarh where 53 securitymen and two civilians were killed in the last three weeks. "We have received information about infiltration by Nepali Maoists, but nothing can be confirmed unless they are nabbed," a senior intelligence officer said, adding that Nepal sometime ago had indicated to India that a section of Maoists could cross over.
The government has noticed "minimal" presence of Maoists in the northeast region, Home Minister P Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. "In recent months, we have noticed minimal presence of Maoists in northeast," he said during Question Hour.
Heavily armed Maoists torched 32 vehicles, including tankers and containers, on the Grand Trunk Road in Gaya district on the first day of the two-day Bihar and Jharkhand bandh called by the extremists against the killing of their woman leader.
"It is wrong to link us with the Indian Maoist movement, he said. There is no involvement (of Nepalese Maoists) in the Indian Maoists' movement," the party's senior leader, Baburam Bhattarai, told media-persons.
The Union Home Ministry has drawn up surrender policy for Maoists. It is likely to be a dream project of the United Progressive Alliance. This policy will help "attract the Maoist to reject arms and draw them towards discussion"
It is in circumstances like this that the Constitution becomes extremely important. It reminds us that we have a commitment towards higher human values to fulfil, a path to get back to, suggests Shyam G Menon.Else, we risk being rudderless in an ocean of money and majoritarianism, suggests Shyam G Menon.
Maoists abducted and hacked to death a panchayat samiti member and another person at Paharpur in Bihar's Jamui district on Tuesday, police sources said. Maoists raided Rajaun village, abducted panchayat samiti member Arjun Paswan and Rajaun village PACS chief Vishnudeo Yadav and took them to Paharpur and hacked them to death, the sources said. A combing operation has been launched.
With Maoists striking at will, the Cabinet Committee of Security on Thursday approved the government's new plan to counter Maoists, under which the infested states will have an effective coordination and the police will take a lead role.The CCS, presided by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gave the clearance to the plan, a day after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram warned the Maoists to abjure violence or face action.
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