'Every report I filed for Rediff.com on the professor's incarceration, would leave me wondering for days, at the depth of the State's malevolence towards this disabled professor, and his equally deep capacity to tolerate it,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.' 'No country in the world would do what our country was doing to someone so helpless.'
Two Border Security Force jawans and a civilian driver were killed when Naxals blew up their vehicles in Maoist-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday.
Women, children and other family members of the deceased were seen crying while women security personnel were trying to console them.
The state police said that 24 of its men, including SP V K Choubey, were killed when Maoists ambushed a party led by him while it was on the way to a police camp at Madanwada where the militants had killed two of its personnel on Sunday.
In yet another Naxal attack in the state, a Chhattisgarh Armed Force jawan was killed when the ultras opened fire at his camp in Maoist-infested Sukma district on Sunday, the police said.
The dog handler was not injured in the blast.
A police jawan was killed and three others were injured when Naxals attacked a police patrolling party in Maoist-hit Konda Goan district of Chhattisgarh in the small hours of Friday, police said. "The face off between policemen and ultras took place in Borgoan area of Keshkal town of the district at around 1 am," said Konda Gaon Superintendent of Police D Shravan.
Two tiffin bombs, suspected to be planted by Maoists to target security forces and polling parties during the Lok Sabha elections, were uncovered by authorities in the insurgency-hit Kanker district of Chhattisgarh.
Ten Naxals were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Tuesday.
Of the ten police personnel who lost their lives in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, five had joined the force after quitting Maoist violence, a senior official said on Thursday.
The families of policemen being held hostage by Maoists in Bhopalpatnam, near the Chhattisgarh- Andhra Pradesh border, have appealed for their release without delay. Maoists abducted the seven policemen last Sunday, including an assistant sub inspector, a special police officer and three constables. The bodies of three policemen were recovered a day later from a dense forest in Bijapur District of Bastar region. Four are still missing.
At least seven persons, including three naxals, were killed following an attack by Maoists at a government camp in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh Monday, police said.
"The Maoists blew up a cement-laden truck near Kapsi, about 250 km from the state capital, by triggering a landmine, killing three CSEB employees, including the truck's driver," a police source in Narayanpur told PTI.
Three security personnel were killed and two others injured on Wednesday night when Naxalites blasted a police outpost building at Vishrampuri in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.
Four policemen, who are missing since Sunday last from Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, are yet to be traced.
Suspected Naxals fired at an Indian Air Force helicopter and injured a security man in the Maoist hotbed of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. According to preliminary reports, the helicopter was on a mission to airlift a few Central Reserve Police Force troopers when it was fired upon.
According to police, the documents recovered during the raids revealed that Singh was allegedly involved in promoting enmity and hatching a conspiracy against the established government and public representatives and was booked under sedition charges.
The naxalites claimed that the Rani Bodli incident was an answer to the Salwa Judum (peace campaign) and anti-naxal operation in Bastar region.
Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) R K Vij told UNI that four constables of the Naga Battalion, accompanied by two special police officers were returning after patrolling duty.
Polling in 70 constituencies began at 8 am and will conclude at 5 pm, except in nine polling booths in the Maoist-affected Bindranawagarh seat in Gariaband district, where voting began at 7 for security reasons, a poll official said.
Available information indicates that the CRPF's operation in Chattisgarh last week in which 19 alleged Maoists were killed, had taken place on half-baked information, reports Vicky Nanjappa
Striking a different note from the government on last week's anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh that left 19 tribals killed, Congress on Tuesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state for the "botch-up", saying it has resulted in the loss of lives of innocent tribals and minors.
President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday conferred eight Kirti Chakras, including five posthumously, to personnel of the Army and paramilitary and police forces for displaying indomitable courage and extraordinary valour in the line of duty.
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
He was the mastermind in laying many an ambush, triggering bomb blasts and other subversive activities.
About three men and five women escaped and ran to nearby jungles and reached Dornapal relief camp and then informed the police.
Kanker district Superintendent of Police Rahul Bhagat told PTI on phone that a joint patrolling team of the BSF and the district police from Koylibeda was ambushed near Sulangi village by around 150 naxals in which two BSF jawans -- a head constable and a constable--were killed on the spot while three others, including a special police officer, were injured.
Ten men including the son of a local BJP leader were arrested on Friday for allegedly raping two sisters in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district, the police said.
In a major joint offensive, separate joint teams of security forces, comprising over 2,000 personnel, had launched an anti-Naxal operation from Bijapur and Sukma districts in the South Bastar forests, considered as the Maoist stronghold, on Friday night.
The Chhatisgarh government refuted allegations in the Supreme Court on Thursday that it had appointed minors as special police officers or had armed the civilians in its fight against Naxals.
The destruction of the factory -- located in Dantewada's Singamadagu village -- is crucial because of the kind of firepower that it had been generating for the Maoist guerillas.
The toll is likely to mount, as more details were yet to emerge.
13 people were killed and six injured when naxalites triggered a landmine blast in Ghoda village, under Pakhanjur police station area in Kanker district, early Saturday morning.
Cops said during interrogation, they admitted to their involvement in the attack.
According to an Andhra government statement, Naidu 'reposed confidence' in the PM's leadership.
Three police personnel were killed and another injured when Naxals attacked a Doordarshan TV tower in Maoist-hit Bastar district of Chhattisgarh early on Sunday morning.
As controversy continues to rage over the last month's killings in Chhattisgarh, Union Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo said 17 of the 19 slain by the CRPF and state police were unarmed and innocent.
Hidma Madavi, who had a Rs 12 lakh reward on his head, was arrested without a single bullet being fired.
The police department had 49,143 units of weapons, of which 11,232 or about 23 per cent, were obsolete, the CAG report for the year ended March 31, 2009 said. There was also shortage of weapons as per Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) norms.
The police party was on their way to Kanker district in Bastar region for a combing operation when they were attacked by the rebels, Bastar IG A N Upadhyaya said, adding that the injured security personnel were rushed to Raipur hospital by helicopter.
