The surrendered top Maoist leader in Andhra Pradesh Sambasivudu was today allowed to meet his family after which he visited a house in Vanasthalipuram area where his parents and daughter were staying with relatives and met them after several years. It was an emotional reunion as tearful parents and daughter Swarnalatha received him
In one of the deadliest blows to Naxalites in Chhattisgarh, security forces on Sunday gunned down 31 rebels, including 11 women, in a fierce encounter in the state's Bijapur district, police said.
The members of the insurgent groups -- United Liberation Front of Assam, National Democratic Front of Boroland, Rabha National Liberation Front, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, Communist Party of India-Maoist, National Santhal Liberation Army, Adivasi Dragon Fighters and National Liberation Front of Bengali -- joined the mainstream in front of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at a programme.
Ten Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Friday, a senior police official said. The gunfight broke out in the morning in a forest within the jurisdiction of the Bhejji police station when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation. The operation was launched based on inputs about the presence of Maoists belonging to Konta and Kistaram area committees of Naxalites on forested hills of Korajguda, Dantespuram, Nagaram and Bhandarpadar villages. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai hailed security forces and said the era of peace and progress has returned to the Bastar region, which includes Sukma.
Urging Naxals to shun violence, Shah announced that the Chhattisgarh government would announce a "new look" surrender policy in 1-2 months.
With this incident, 154 Naxalites have been gunned down by the security forces in different encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year, the police said.
'The strategy of frontal organisations of the Maoists is to create unrest and ensure that such unrest leads to a law and order problem.' 'To cover such acts it was necessary to bring in a different definition of unlawful activities which is different from the definition of unlawful activities in the UAPA.'
The Bombay High Court on Thursday said poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, need not surrender before the Taloja prison authorities until October 28.
The National Investigation Agency on Monday urged the Bombay high court to direct poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to surrender before the Taloja prison authorities, saying that several 'other old people' in need of medical treatment were also in prisons.
A bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and SV Kotwal extended Rao's time to surrender from December 2 to December 6 after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) failed to get Rao medically examined at the private Nanavati hospital in compliance with the previous order of the high court.
"With the death of RK, the outlawed CPI (Maoist) has lost its three central committee members and as many other senior cadres in the last two years. These deaths would certainly deplete the strength of the Naxal movement which has been losing its ground. Security forces would make an all-out attempt to soon bring an end to the five-decade-long mindless violence by ultras in the region," Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P said.
Terming Naxals the biggest human rights violators, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said security forces have been carrying out 'offensive operations' instead of defensive against the insurgents and have achieved big successes in recent times.
Scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, is an 'active member' of the Communist Party of India-Maoist and 'deeply involved' in furtherance of the outfit's agenda, the National Investigatoin Agency (NIA) has told a special court in Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case who is on interim bail, need not surrender before the Taloja prison authorities until November 18 and adjourned the hearing on a plea filed by him to next month.
Intensifying operations against the Naxals and chocking the flow of funds to them were the two key issues discussed at a high-level meeting chaired by Union home mAmit Shah and attended by six chief ministers and top officials of four other states here on Sunday, sources said.
Despite major setbacks, the Maoists' ability to inflict damage on the State and maintain its position as the saviour of the tribals will keep them relevant, says Bibhu Prasad Routray.
Naxalites blew up the mini-goods van in which the security personnel were travelling by using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), police sources said.
The Bombay high court on Friday extended till February 5, the date of surrender for poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case who is currently on medical bail, before Taloja prison authorities in Maharashtra.
The Bombay High Court on Monday adjourned till September 24 the hearing on the plea for interim bail extension of poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, and said he need not surrender to Taloja prison authorities till September 25.
The surrendered Naxal said such arguments and counter-arguments led to internal dispute. "I felt suffocated and a sense of remorse started setting in."
A woman self-styled Maoist commander on Friday surrendered before the police in West Midnapore district alleging sexual exploitation by ultra leaders.
The case pertains to the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which according to the Pune police was funded by Maoists.
An immediate grant of Rs 1.5 lakh, monthly stipends during training and even monetary incentives for surrender of weapons are all there for the asking for the banned Naxals under a surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy approved by the Centre on Monday.
The Raman Singh government hardens its stand against left-wing extremists a few days after home minister Ramsewak Paikra said the Chhattisgarh government was open for a dialogue with Naxals
A day after a fierce gun-battle at Lakhanpur jungle in Jungle Mahal between Maoists and joint forces, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday appealed to them to give up violence and offered a fresh package. Promising security to Maoists who will surrender, Banerjee said, "We want Maoists to give up the politics of guns and violence and join the mainstream. Return to a normal life with your families."
The larger conspiracy of Communist Party of India-Maoists was to overthrow the democratic system in the country, and the accused were working in that direction, the chargesheet claimed.
Rejecting an offer made by Odisha police, top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda on Saturday said he has no plan to surrender as being speculated.
There is a "high probability" of political leaders coming under a Chhatisgarh-type attack during their panchayat poll campaign in Maoist-hit Jangalmahal in West Bengal, intelligence sources here have indicated.
The 72-day ceasefire call given by the Maoists has received mixed response from the common public in West Bengal and Jharkhand.
Activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, are likely to walk out of jail only next week after securing bail from the Supreme Court on Friday as certain formalities are to be completed before they are released, defence lawyers said in Mumbai.
Warning Maoists who have rejected her ultimatum to surrender, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday hoped that 'good sense' would still prevail and warned the Left-wing ultras that her patience was wearing thin. Banerjee, who is on her third visit to Jungle Mahal, said, "I have given lot of time and if good sense prevails, I have no objections. I will give you food, jobs, houses and roads and consider your cases."
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the actual involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira in any terrorist act has not surfaced from any third-party communications.
The apex court on July 28 granted bail to the two accused, noting that the actual involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira in any terrorist act has not surfaced from any third-party communications.
The release of activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, could get delayed as a special NIA court in Mumbai on Monday rejected their pleas for temporary cash bail.
Two days after Naxals struck in a big way in Chhattisgarh, the government on Wednesday asserted that there will be no let up in operations to eliminate the Maoist menace and promised all support to the security forces to deal with it firmly.
Thirteen Central Reserve Police Force personnel, including two officers were killed in a Maoist attack in the Chintagufa area in Chhattisgarh's Sukhma while they were on an area domination exercise. According to reports, the attackers used locals as human shields to prevent CRPF retaliation.