Beltangady: Naxals Hiring Tamil Nadu-based Killers?
Daijiworld Media Networkk – Beltangady (SP)
Beltangady, Oct 10: The state home ministry reportedly has received infromation that the Naxals in the state have availed of the services of hired killers based in Tamil Nadu for their operations. This has become necessary as the Naxal strength is on the wane in the state. Those who attacked the policemen on Saturday were these hired killers, sources believe. The Naxals hire them on annual contract basis, they added.
Commenting on the resumption of Naxal activities in the Western Ghats, Dakshina Kannada superintendent of police (SP), Labhu Ram, told the press persons that the police department too is equipped with modern arms like AK 47, hand grenades etc and that the department is capable of crushing the Naxal menace. Insisting that the policemen had no prior information about the movement of Naxals in the region, contrary to the claims from a few sources, he said that the Anti Naxal Force’s unit in Venoor, which had been suspended after there was noticeable decline in Naxal activities in the region, will be revived if the need for the same is felt.
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Superintendent of police of the Anti Naxal Force, Vasudeva Murthy, said that the ANF contingent was split into three groups to hunt for Naxals, and that a back-up team comprising two sub-inspectors of police and other personnel was a little distance away when one of the contingents came under Naxal attack all of a sudden. The personnel of the force heard distinct wails of a woman from the Naxal side during the shoot out, and they believe that a female member of the Naxal gang would have been grievously injured, although no concrete information has so far been collected to confirm the same.
However, there is also information that the Naxal gang, which escaped from the spot, was heard raising cries of victory a few minutes thereafter. This indicates that none of the Naxals were injured. The policemen believe that the Naxal gang had Vikram Gowda, Sundari from Kutllor, Vijaya, Keerti, and some others as its members. A pair of chappals, a meter-long cudgel, bamboo sticks, a torch light, a small hoe, and glass of a lamp were recovered from the spot. The sniffer dogs led the police towards Manjotti, indicating to the possibility that the Naxal gang might have chosen this path to escape.
Mane is the first policeman to lose life in a Naxal encounter in the coastal belt of the state. With this attack, the Naxals have made light of the state government’s recent claims that the Naxals have turned very weak. Soft stance of the government towards Naxals and its inability to provide infrastructure facilities to the villages in Western Ghats seem to have contributed to the re-emergence of Naxals as a force to reckon with.
The slain constable, Mahadeva S Mane (42), was of the 1993 batch, and belonged to the ninth battalion. He was a native of Balagavi village in Chadachana revenue division, Indi taluk, Bijapur district. Originally he was from Sankeshwar in Hukkeri taluk, Belgaum district.
The policemen have got information that an aged man with a lantern in hand was guiding the Naxal gang. As Sundari from Kutloor near here is a member of the Naxal gang, the locals do not give out any information about the Naxal movement, it is said.
It is learnt that eligible members of Mane’s family will be entitled for employment in police department in addition to the compensation of Rs 15 lac as already announced. Moreover, if Mane’s family so wants, they can retain the facility of police quarters for the remainder of Mane’s original service, said director general of police of the state, Neelam Achuta Rao.