'By hoisting the national flag we have kindled a small flame of hope among the Adivasis.' 'We will strive to keep this flame burning forever among their hearts.'
Prima facie there was a nexus between human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, and Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, an agent of Pakistan's spy agency ISI convicted in the United States for terror funding, a special NIA court has said in its order denying bail to the campaigner.
'Those giving voice to the voiceless should be welcomed, not punished.' 'Yes, I paid a price -- 10 years in jail -- but it wasn't only me who did so. There are many paying the price.'
"We have raided and destroyed poppy crops in 24 acres of land under the Imamganj police station," Omprakash Singh, a senior official of the Excise Department, told rediff.com. Singh said the Maoist had cultivated opium to make money for their illegal activities and continue their operations against the police.
At least nine Maoists were gunned down in an encounter with the police in a hilly and forested area of Orissa's Naxal-hit Rayagada district on Sunday morning, said the police. The gunbattle took place in Kashipur-Kalyansinghpur border area, after the police conducted a raid following information about the presence of ultras there, Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj said. The bodies of nine rebels, some weapons and explosive materials were found in the area.
The Bihar Special Task Force arrested two Maoists and seized a truck load of explosives including detonators, land mines and grenades in Patna on Thursday night, said police sources. Following a tip-off, the STF arrested two Maoists including Lalbabu Sahni alias Bhakarji, the secretary of the north Bihar unit of the banned CPI (Maoist).The STF also seized a large quantity of Maoist literature, cassettes, CDs, police uniform, shoes, and other material from the Maoists.
An activist working for the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme was killed after being mercilessly beaten by a group of 12 Maoists at Jerua village in Latehar district of Jharkhand.
After lying low for quite sometime, the outlawed Maoists have struck again by targeting Andhra Pradesh former chief minister Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy and his wife and minister N Rajyalakshmi.
Suspected Maoists have killed four political party workers separately in the Jhargram sub-division of West Midnapore district, police said on Friday.
One Central Reserve Police Force personnel and a Maoist were on Sunday killed in the fierce encounter that is going on since Saturday in West Singhbhum district, taking the toll to five. A CRPF personnel and a Maoist were killed on Sunday in the encounter in Tirilposhi jungle while two policemen and an ultra died on Saturday, said Inspector General (Operation) R K Mallick. The encounter is still continuing, he said, adding more casualties on the Maoist side were reported.
Conceding eight of the 14 demands of the Maoists on the second day of talks with the rebel-chosen mediators, the Orissa government said it was confident of securing early release of abducted Malkangiri Collector R V Krishna and a junior engineer.
The Maoists killed Rajendra Sahu suspecting him to be a police informer. Sahu hailed from Orissa and played for Andhra Pradesh in 2006-07, police said in Jeypore on Friday. The 28-year-old Ranji player was married just 10 days back. He had gone to a nearby pond with his friend on Thursday night, when about four miscreants shot him dead.
Maoists blew up a middle school and a mobile phone tower in Bihar's Gaya district early on Wednesday, police said.
An exchange of fire took place between Central Reserve Police Force jawans of the 191 battalion and the Maoists in the afternoon, in the jungles of Phulgondi village near Bedgaon police.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose held both Maoists and Trinamool Congress responsible for the firing incident at Lalgarh which has claimed six lives.
B Raman feels one has to emphasise the importance of balance in the television discussions while the hostage-taking situation continues.
A court on Saturday rejected the bail plea of four senior Maoist leaders and their associates whose release was demanded by Naxal abductors of Malkangiri District Collector RV Krishna and a junior engineer. The plea for similar relief for another person, whose freedom was also demanded by Maoists, was posted for hearing on Monday.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday said that though the counter-insurgency Unified Command comprising the state police, paramilitary force and the army was at work in the state to fight insurgents, special training would be given to the police force to fight Maoists.
A senior official of Orissa's Maoist-hit Malkangiri district on Wednesday went missing and was suspected to have been abducted by Naxalites when he was going to attend a camp for local development in a remote area, officials said in Bhubaneswar.
Maoists on Friday killed five Forward Bloc workers at Jhalda in Purulia district on the suspicion that they were working as police informers. "Chapala Garai, Tapan Singh Sardar, Kinkar Singh, Rajesh Singh and Gopeswar Mahato were shot dead by armed Maoist cadres at Baghbinda village," said Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar Chaudhuri.
The market wore deserted look on Monday as not a single shop has opened since September 30 after Maoists issued a diktat to close down the market for violating a shutdown call by them.
The United Nations has expressed concern over the recruitment and use of minors by armed Maoists in India and said there were credible reports that some young ones were forcibly recruited from schools. In its latest report on children in armed conflicts, the United Nations expressed concern at the use of children by the Maoist armed groups in some districts of Chhattisgarh. It also highlighted an incident in which Maoists forced villagers to provide five boys and girls.
The alleged encounter killing of Communist Party of India Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad took a new twist on Saturday after it was revealed that the other 'Maoist leader' killed in the encounter was actually a freelance journalist from Delhi. The man has been identified as Hemchandar Pandey, 32, a resident of Dewaltal village in Pithorgarh in Uttarkhand. Pandey was a freelance journalist working in Delhi.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked the Maoists to return to the mainstream and assured the rebels that the state government would make all arrangements for their rehabilitation.
Deputy Police Superintendent A K Lal said about 40 Maoists activists armed with sophisticated weapons opened fire on Sharma's family. His wife along with an uncle and a bodyguard were killed in the incident, he added.
Marathi author Anand Karandikar on Tuesday announced that he would return his award in protest against the Maharashtra government withdrawing an award for a Marathi translation of the memoir of alleged Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy by author Anagha Lele.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs General (retd) V K Singh opposed deployment of the Army in Maoist-affected areas on Tuesday, saying that the use of armed forces against "our own citizens" would "tarnish" its image.
Bollywood's Shahenshah Amitabh Bachchan is Bihar's police mascot in their battle against Maoists -- to lure youths to join the forces instead of the rebels. M I Khan reports
Seeking intensification of the joint operations against Maoists, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress on Thursday for "playing footsie" with the extremists for electoral gains.
The Bihar government said it would further intensify anti-Naxal operations and rescue searches for the four abducted policemen, even as Maoists set an ultimatum to release their eight jailed cadres by Wednesday, failing which they would kill all the captives.
Block development officer of Tariyani in Sheohar district, Manoj Singh, was on Monday released by the Maoists, a top district police officer said.
The report had also expressed concern over Maoist-related violence escalating in Orissa and Jharkhand.
Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka Monday completed a month in captivity of Maoists even as all including Odisha government were anxiously waiting for the 'praja (people's) court' proposed by the Naxals to decide the fate of the tribal legislator by April 25.
Even as the slain top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad was cremated in Hyderabad in the presence of hundreds of mourners, including writers, poets and activists, the CPI Maoist has announced a week-long protest against what they call a "fake encounter".
One of the top most leaders of CPI-Maoist in the country Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad was alive and safe, a senior Maoist leader has said.
After the clash on Wednesday, 29 dead bodies were recovered from the site and 40 Maoists, who sustained injuries have been admitted to the local hospital for treatment.
Normal life in the urban areas remained unaffected in Jharkhand's East and West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharswan districts during the 'Bharat bandh' called by Maoists.
A group of Maoists kidnapped a school headmaster in West Bengal's Bankura District on Friday evening and threatened to kill him if the state government failed to release the six villagers arrested after police officer Rabi Lochan Mitra's murder. On Friday evening, the armed Maoists barged into Shibram Satpathy School in Sarulia village of the District and went around searching for its headmaster Ranjit Duley.
Questioning the government's approach towards Maoists, members of an official panel that had looked into the issue of Left-wing extremism have said that instead of telling the ultras to abjure violence, both sides should declare a ceasefire and create an atmosphere for talks. "If the government is serious enough to alleviate the tribal problem, then it should persuade the Maoists to come for talks," said chairman of the panel and former IAS officer Debabrata Bandopadhyay.
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