A Bharatiya Janata Party leader was on Wednesday shot dead by Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said.
About 300 to 400 Naxalites carried out the attacks on the camps of the paramilitary personnel at Chintangufa, where 75 CRPF men and a policeman were killed in the worst Maoist strike two weeks ago, Kanker Lanka, Potampalli and Bheji in quick succession beginning at around 1930 hours, sources said.
Noting that the Central Reserved Paramilitary Force, which was meant to be a 'reserved force', is definitely overburdened, Chidambaram said that there is no development in most of the Maoist-inflicted places like Lalgarh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and the Centre cannot be blamed alone for this. "Even state governments are equally responsible for it," he added.
Charges and counter-charges over links with Maoists flew thick and fast between the Opposition and the government on Thursday as the Lok Sabha began discussion on the Dantewada Naxal attack.
Naxals looted six automatic weapons -- two AK-47s and as many INSAS and self loading rifles -- of the deceased personnel.
The Central Reserve Police Force has constituted a Court of Inquiry against three of its officers and a retired inspector general, shunted out of Chhattisgarh following a report on the Dantewada massacre by Naxals, to look into the "specific acts of omission and commission" by them.
Former Director General of BSF E N Rammohan has been asked to conduct the inquiry and submit a report within 15 days to establish the circumstances preceding and the sequence of events leading to the incident of April 6, 2010.
We asked our readers to send in their condolences for the brave hearts who lost their lives in the Naxal massacre in Dantewada, Chatttisgarh on Tuesday. And the messages continue to pour in.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
A massive manhunt has been launched to nab Naxal leaders behind the Dantewada massacre as investigations into the worst-ever Maoist attack showed that the ultras had used light machine guns in killing 76 security personnel. Sources in the team conducting the investigations said a survey of site of the attack showed that two LMGs had been used by the Naxals -- who were mainly from Company 3 and Company 8 of the Maoists Central Committee and led by Hidma and Papa Rao.
Twelve constituencies of Bastar division were among 20 assembly segments in Chhattisgarh that went to the polls in the first phase on November 7. A high voter turnout of 78 per cent was recorded in these 20 seats.
The police on Saturday claimed to have gunned down eight Maoists during an encounter in forests near Kutul-Farasbeda and Kodtameta villages in the district.
The total number of voters in the 20 constituencies are 40,78,681, comprising 19,93,937 male, 20,84,675 female and 69 third-gender persons, they pointed out.
In the first fallout of the Dantewada massacre, the Central Reserve Police Force on Friday shunted out Deputy Inspector General Nalin Prabhat and two other officers for their alleged lapses.
The government said on Wednesday that the 62nd Battalion, which lost 75 of its personnel during the bloody encounter with Naxals in Dantewada last month, was not trained by the army.
The driver of a Scorpio that was right behind the vehicle targeted by Naxalites with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Wednesday said he won't be able to forget the day long as he lives.
It's a single phase polling in Mizoram while first phase of assembly elections is underway in Chhattisgarh.
The NTA denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres were some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.
Could the massacre of the 75 jawans at Dantewada been avoided? Was the state prepared for a strategic counter-offensive such as this by the Naxalites?
Women, children and other family members of the deceased were seen crying while women security personnel were trying to console them.
Voting for 10 constituencies was held from 7 am to 3 pm in 10 seats and from 8 am to 5 pm in the rest 10 segments under a thick security blanket of police and paramilitary personnel in the Naxalite-hit Bastar division.
The incident took place in the morning under Jagargunda police station area when a team of the CRPF's 165th battalion was out on an anti-Maoist operation, a police official said.
In the first phase covering 20 of the total 90 assembly seats, 223 candidates, including 25 women, are in the fray and as per electoral rolls, 40,78,681 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
Many IEDs explode even when the troops are on foot and their trigger mechanism gets activated just due to the pressure of the feet. These incidents have injured more than 100 personnel over the last two years, the officer said.
Dinesh Tati (23), resident of Palnar village in Gangaloor police station limits, was held on Friday from a tractor showroom in Bijapur town, Additional Superintendent of Police Chandrakant Gavarna said.
Three battalions of the Border Security Force comprising more than 3,000 personnel will move across the border from Odisha to Chhattisgarh and an equal number of Indo-Tibetan Border Police units will further move into the Naxal stronghold of Abujhmad as part of a strategy to intensify anti-Maoist operations in their last bastions, official sources said.
Rao's history includes arrests in 2000 by Sahadha police of Nandurbar district and subsequent releases, as well as an underground stint in 2002, leading to his arrest by Malkanoor PS police of Karnataka in 2005.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday wrested power from Congress in Chhattisgarh, winning 54 of the 90 seats in the state assembly, while the grand old party got 35 seats, a far cry from the 68 it bagged in the last elections.
They were identified as LOS commander Erra and woman cadre Podiyam Bhime, deputy commander of the same squad, Sharma said.
Police seized condoms, contraceptive pills and pregnancy test kits from a Maoist hideout following an exchange of fire with red rebels on Odisha-Chhattisgarh border, a senior officer said in Nabarangapur on Thursday.
A special court at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh has acquitted tribal activist Soni Sori and three others in a case lodged against them in 2011 for alleged transfer of 'protection money' to Naxals.
It had organised its 83rd anniversary event last year in Jammu after the government asked all paramilitary or CAPF to hold these events outside the national capital.
A Greyhounds jawan sustained injuries, following which he was airlifted to Warangal and admitted to a hospital.
The explosion took place in a hilly area in Bacheli in Dantewada when the personnel were returning to their camp after purchasing groceries from market.
Moti Ram Awalam (30) was an active member of "PLGA Battalion No 1", considered the strongest military formation of the outlawed movement, headed by wanted Maoist "commander" Hidma, and was carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head, a police official said.
Reversing the burden of evidence means that the principle of innocent until proven guilty does not apply. It is exactly the opposite: Guilty as charged, until you can convince the judges of the contrary, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The DD scribe, Dhiraj Kumar said the horrific incident would never fade from his memory.
'The government is doing away with crucial laws such as the Forest Conservation Act and the Environment Protection Act which had helped safeguard our forests.' 'The President has to show that she will stand in favour of tribal rights.'
The development is being seen as a blow to the opposition Congress which was planning to forge a grand alliance in Chhattisgrah to unseat the ruling BJP.
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