The dome over a stage being erected for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public rally at Naya Raipur on Saturday collapsed in severe storm, forcing cancellation of his engagements there.
Prabhat Singh, who is said to be working for a Hindi national daily, was picked up by the Bastar police on March 21 from Dantewada district and arrested on Tuesday.
A ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leader was on Monday shot dead by Naxalites in Katekalyan region of the Maoist-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, police said.
'Maoists are enraged that the media is reporting the truth.' 'They want to physically isolate the media and psychologically isolate the villagers who have found the confidence to speak to the press about the real situation.' 'Like terrorism ended in Punjab, Naxalism will end in Chhattisgarh,' the AIIMS doctor-turned IPS officer and SP of Dantewada tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
Dantewada recorded lowest turnout with 49 per cent voting.
'The Naxals started firing indiscriminately.' 'The whole jungle echoed with the sound of bullets.' 'The only thing I heard from that side was 'Chhodna kisi ko nahi (don't let anyone escape)'.'
This is the fourth IED blast triggered by Naxals in Chhattisgarh in the last 15 days.
Five police personnel were killed and 13 others injured as Naxals blew up the bus in which they were traveling in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Tuesday, senior police officials said.
The face-off between a compact team of District Reserve Group and ultras took place in the forested hills of Metapal village, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap told PTI.
The surrender of top Naxal leader Gudsa Usendi, mastermind of many lethal strikes including the attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh last year, is certainly a good news for the NIA, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Former leader of opposition in Chhattisgarh assembly Mahendra Karma sustained minor injuries after his vehicle was blown up by suspected Naxalss in Dantewada district of the state, police said.
The incident occurred around 7.45 pm on the "black top road" between Peddakodepal and Naimed villages under the Naimed police station area, when the victims were heading towards neighbouring Dantewada district in an SUV to visit a fair, said Deputy Inspector General (anti-naxal operation) Sundarraj P.
The majority of CoBRA teams, whose commandos are expected to have tough mental and physical attributes, are deployed in various Maoist violence affected states while a few are based in the northeastern states for undertaking counter-insurgency operations.
Naxals allegedly set on fire a conveyor belt of National Mineral Development Corporation in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district in the wee hours on Wednesday causing production disturbance to the tune of 40,000 tonnes.
CRPF Inspector General Pankaj Kumar Sinh said a joint team of CRPF jawans and state police deployed in Jagargunda area of Dantewada had gone for area domination exercise when about 200 Naxals started firing at them near Aasrampura village.
Appealing people not to celebrate Independence Day, Naxals torched six trucks in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.
The migrant workers were walking along the rail tracks apparently to escape the attention of police. A video clip from the scene of the tragedy shows the bodies of migrant workers lying on the tracks and nearby with their meagre personal belongings scattered around.
Tribal teacher Soni Sori and her activist-nephew Lingaram Kodopi were released from Jagdalpur jail on Thursday after the Supreme Court granted them bail following their arrest two years ago for allegedly receiving money on behalf of Maoists from a corporate house in Chhattisgarh.
Seven Naxals were killed and a policeman sustained serious injuries in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Tuesday.Security forces gunned down seven Naxals in the jungles of Tetemdagu village, nearly 18 kms from Kistaram town, in the district, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Kumar Mishra said, adding that a policeman was also seriously injured in the ambush.
Naxals, security forces big buyers; durables fail to click as families flee.
When the MPV carrying six personnel was around one km away from the camp, ultras triggered a powerful land mine blast, he said.
We asked our readers to send in their condolence messages for the slain 76 CRPF personnel and police men who were the victims of Naxal slaughter in Dantewada, Chattisgarh on Tuesday. And the messages continue to pour in.
That there is something awry in the entire strategy is now established. Now, even moderate critics of the government are questioning the methods of the home minister and his ministry.
Home Minister P Chidambaram and the Central Reserve Police Force strongly defended the battalion that was massacred in Dantewada on Tuesday saying they were properly trained, differing with Army chief General V K Singh on the issue.
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.
Maoists have struck again, this time in Dantewada. At least 76 Central Reserve Police Force jawans have died in the attack, the highest toll till now. Will the government give up its fumbling approach to tackle the red terror and use all possible means to deal with the gravest threat to internal security? Or will it persist with its line of least resistance? Ajai Sahni & Ajit Kumar Singh explain what needs to be done.
Three Naxals, including a woman, were killed in a police encounter in the jungles of Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, police said.
"Our team on the ground in Dantewada informed the Director General A S Gill that more than 30 Naxals were killed in the encounter that took place on Friday. Though only three bodies were recovered, the rest were dragged back into the forests by the Naxals," CRPF spokesperson Ajay Chaturvedi said in New Delhi.
The Congress hit back at Modi and accused him of indulging in his 'trademark petty politics' and seeking to hide his 'abject failure and weak-kneed' approach to fighting Naxalism.
The killed cadres, identified as Vargese and Linga, were allegedly involved in the ambush in which Mandavi and his four security personnel were killed on April 9, Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said.
A change in Maoist strategy by targetting vital installations like high tension transmission lines has added to the woes of Bastar tribals, who were trapped in the hostilities between the ultras and the security forces.
The Union Home Ministry on Monday sought a detailed report from the Chattisgarh government on the daring escape by 299 inmates of the state's Dantewada jail.
Among the killed are eight constables and two head constables of Mizoram police, deployed in anti-Naxal operation, the driver of the jeep and a teenager who was also in the vehicle when it was ambushed.
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.
Ten villagers had gone from Ganglur relief camp to their paddy fields when a group of armed Naxalites reached there and asked them to stop farming saying it has been `banned' by them, the sources said.
Another jawan was injured in the incident. Naxalites shot dead two Salwa Judum leaders Hapka Ayatu and Palli Pandu yesterday in Kader and Kandulnar villages of Bijapur district, police said.
Nagaland Armed Police personnel, who were camping in the same locality, retaliated and the exchange of fire with the ultras continued for over an hour in Injeram, the sources said.
While they were cordoning-off a forested patch near Pariya village, the Naxals triggered an IED.
Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases across all 90 seats. The first phase on November 12 will cover 18 constituencies spread over in 8 Left Wing Extremism affected districts (Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Sukma, Kondagaon, Kanker, Narayanpur and Rajnandgaon). The remaining 72 seats in north Chhattisgarh will go to polls in the second phase on November 20. As the state goes to the polls in its first stage on Monday, here's an easy guide to the 1st phase of polling.
The enhanced allowance will be applicable to all paramilitary personnel deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal-hit areas.