Security agencies are working to ascertain a claim made by Naxals that they abducted a CoBRA commando after the ambush in Chhattisgarh on Saturday that left at least 22 security personnel dead, official sources said
He was the mastermind in laying many an ambush, triggering bomb blasts and other subversive activities.
The Central Reserve Police Force top boss on Thursday said he has asked his troops deployed in anti-Naxal operations to even go to the extent of "violating" the Standard Operating Procedures if such a diversion in rules is required for operational efficiency and safety of the men.
'They try and extend the hostage situation as long as they can to remain in the national headlines.'
The Naxalites carrying sophisticated weapons, including AK-47 rifles, targeted the two unarmed cops when they had just reported for duty at the mobile check-post on the inter-state border, an area that has witnessed a Maoist attack after a long time, they said.
The fight against ultras will be intensified to end the Naxal menace, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday as he took stock of the situation in the aftermath of the killing 22 security personnel in an attack by the rebels in Chhattisgarh.
The first prime minister to visit this Maoist hotbed in three decades, Narendra Modi on Saturday asked Naxals to abjure gun and allow peace so that the macabre drama of death will end to pave the way for development.
Not ruling out the violation of Standard Operating Procedures when such a huge movement of central forces is taking place in the troubled state, officials requesting anonymity said a clear picture on loopholes, if any, will be known after a thorough probe.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrkar ruled out the possibility of deploying the Indian Army in anti-Naxal operations.
Security forces today arrested six armed Naxals at Kosekodi village in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district. Police officials said the arrest was the result of a joint operation by BSF, district police and Special Police Officers who had received information about the movement of Naxals in the area.
I don't believe Kanu Sanyal committed suicide. We all murdered him, the present society being his killer.The peasants' movement across the country lost its parent today. I am dumbfounded.My association with Kanuda dates back to the 1950s when India was witnessing the Tebhaga movement. It was a militant campaign initiated in Bengal by the Kisan Sabha (peasants' front of the Communist Party of India) in 1946.
Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued to security forces deployed across Left Wing Extremism affected states after a 'serious and new' threat of possession and operation of drones by Maoist cadres came to light recently, officials said on Sunday.
After the death of Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji in an encounter in Bengal, many experts believed that the Naxal movement was headed downhill after the demise of their most powerful leader. But the recent daring strike on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh has jolted security experts out of their reverie and proved that the ultra left-wing movement has found a new leader.
Security experts say there has been complacency in handling the Naxal issue since the number of attacks has gone down over the years. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his party was fighting the 'Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Indian state itself', triggering a row with the BJP alleging that everything the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha does or says is in the direction of breaking India and dividing the society.
Voicing reservations over the full-fledged operationalisation of the ambitious National Counter Terror Centre, Congress-ruled Karnataka on Wednesday said the body should not be given "unbridled powers".
The Telangana Rastriya Samithi and other pro-state activists have decided not to celebrate until the bill is passed in Parliament. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The Andhra Pradesh chief minister became emotional when TDP workers expressed concern about well-being.
Sources in the Intelligence Bureau and the National Investigation Agency claim that the Naxals had precise information about the movement of the Congress convoy, which came under attack on May 25, reports Vicky Nanjappa
Naxalbari has some really good and unexpected twists and turns, observes Moumita Bhattacharjee.
'The category of crime and criminals called Maoist or Naxal or #UrbanNaxals is an illegitimate creation of right-wing propaganda media frenzy.' 'It is a fiction repugnant to the Constitution and the law of the land,' argue Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
This is the second big arrest in Maharashtra in recent months.
A special squad of the anti-Naxal force recently undertook an operation in the jungles of Narayanpur district during which a UAV was not only able to pick up "real-time imagery" of movement of Naxal cadres but also relayed the conversation among them.
A state-of-the-art control room with giant TV screens that will help track the offensive of security forces in Naxal strongholds with satellite imaging and Global Positioning System has been activated at the Central Reserve Police Force headquarters in New Delhi.
The operation was conducted between June 23 and 25, the police said.
To Kanu Sanyal, the world consisted of two things -- right and wrong. There was no in between. Inspired by hardcore radicalism, Sanyal was someone who would fight till his last breath. Which is why I am startled by his suicide. Why would someone who was willing to lay down his life for others hang himself? What ailed him?Was it his own disillusionment or his frustration at the failure of a movement that he and his friends laid down their lives for?
The UAV was in operation in Chhattisgarh for quite sometime and results are excellent, he said adding now as part of a strategy, the UAV will be positioned over eastern Maharashtra.
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.
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh on Thursday alleged that lack of coordination between the security forces and the state police was leading to rise in Naxal violence in Chhattisgarh, and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government of having a nexus with ultras for political gains.
An elusive figure, Hidma is a top leader of the outlawed Naxal outfit CPI (Maoist) and has been on the radar of security agencies for many years.
Relatives of a Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) commando held hostage by Naxals after a recent gun battle with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district blocked the Jammu-Poonch highway on Wednesday, demanding an assurance from the government for his safe release.
Roads are of great importance to win the war against the rebels in Sukma
a group of armed insurgents opened indiscriminate fire on the security officials, triggering a gun-battle between the two sides.
Two Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol jawans were injured in a blast triggered by Naxals in the Maoist-hit Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh on the eve of the first phase of Assembly elections, police said.
The Indian government will launch an offensive against Naxals in various states later this year using Indian Air Force helicopters for movement of troops and satellite images to carry out surgical strikes.
Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa explains why destroying mobile towers just before a political rally is a big headache for security agencies.
He said in most of the Naxal attacks, it has been noticed that villagers were used as human shields by the insurgents during the gun battle.
Three Naxals, including two women, were on Saturday gunned down by security forces at two different places in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bastar division, taking the total number of ultras killed in separate gun-battles in the region this month to 21.
Claiming responsibility for the deadly attack on a Congress convoy, Maoists on Tuesday said their main objective was to "punish" senior party leaders including Nand Kumar Patel and Mahendra Karma for their "anti-people" policies.
The Maoists have constituted 'Baal Action Teams' to deploy school children in different capacities in their attempt to regroup the child cadres and boost their perceived military strength.
