1 ton of explosives robbed by Maoists from stone quarry recovered in Odisha
The Odisha Police, along with the CRPF, Jharkhand Jaguar, the Special Operations Group (SOG), and the elite COBRA unit, launched a joint operation in Saranda forest in Jharkhand after the Maoists robbed about 4 ton of explosives, mostly gelatin, on May 27.
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Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
Amit Shah honours police team that scalped Basavaraju
NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Saturday met and felicitated officers of the Chhattisgarh Police who played a key role in the recent anti-Naxal operations in Bijapur and Narayanpur that led to the elimination of top CPI(Maoist) leader Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju and 57 others. On X later, Shah said, "Met the officers who played a crucial role in the recent anti-Naxal operations and congratulated them on the historic success of these operations. I am eager to meet the brave jawans who made these operations successful with their courage, and will soon visit Chhattisgarh to meet them. The Modi govt is committed to freeing India from the menace of Naxalism." The officers honoured by Shah, in the presence of Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai and Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sharma, included Chhattisgarh DGP Arun Dev Gautam, ADGP (anti-Naxal operations) Vivekanand, IGP (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P, SP Narayanpur Prabhat Kumar, SP Bijapur Jitendra Yadav and SP Bastar Shalabh Singh. As part of stepped up offensive in the Maoists' last bastions, the Chhattisgarh Police and the CRPF, with other state police forces, BSF and Indian Air Force, had undertaken a 21-day operation in April-May in the Karreguttalu Hills on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border. The operation led to the neutralisation of 31 Naxalites, including some senior members of the dreaded People's Liberation Guerrilla Army Battalion No. 1, and the recovery of a huge cache of arms and supplies. In another operation in Narayanpur on May 21, personnel from Chhattisgarh Police's District Reserve Guard eliminated Basavaraju and 26 other Naxalites.
Hindustan Times
6 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Centre plans elaborate security measures for Amarnath Yatra
The central government has decided to put in place several security measures for the annual Amarnath Yatra to ensure safety of the pilgrims, including paramilitary cover for convoys and deployment of additional paramilitary forces along the route, officials said on Saturday. The pilgrimage, scheduled to begin on July 3 and end on August 9, is being held amid a high security alert following Operation Sindoor which was triggered by the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 22 civilians. One of the routes for the trek to the shrine crosses through Pahalgam. Earlier, horizontal access roads to the shrine were blocked for regular traffic by the region's traffic police and local volunteers. 'This time, because of the high alert, there will be teams of paramilitary force personnel, who will also secure entry points to the highway. The number of personnel at each point will depend on the location of the access point, topography and the population of the area,' an officer aware of the details said. The officer said that several security review meetings have been held over the last few weeks to take stock of the preparations for the yatra, the duration of which is 38 days this year compared to 52 last year. Every convoy escorted by paramilitary forces will have a jammer to add an extra layer of security, the officer said. 'Convoys were always bunched up in large numbers and escorted by police teams in the past. This time, while the horizontal access roads are already blocked and secured, the escort vehicles themselves will have cell phone jammers. This is an additional layer of security,' the officer said. Separately, the MHA has sanctioned 581 companies of paramilitary forces, up from last year's 510, the officer said. The 581 companies include all the central armed police forces — CRPF, BSF, CISF, SSB and ITBP. CRPF, however, will have the highest number of personnel deployed for security with 219 companies. The sanctioned strength of one CRPF company is around 120-130 depending on the location. CRPF, which already has a large contingent in J&K as part of the internal security and counter terror roles, is the nodal agency for all agencies during the Yatra. The number does not include those from the J&K police and the Indian Army contingents. 'The additional companies from across the country will start moving towards the valley by the end of this week. At all remote locations, personnel will have access to satellite phones so that communication is not affected under any circumstances. All these measures are in addition to all the usual measures like having road opening parties(ROPs), bomb disposal squad(BDS), K9 teams and drones for surveillance. Police verification of all civilian workers, including Yatra Niwas volunteers, pony riders and shopkeepers will also start soon,' the second official said.
Hindustan Times
6 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Seven Maoists killed in 3 days of gunfight; activists say ‘staged'
A total of seven Maoists, including two top cadres, were killed in encounters with security forces in a major three-day operation against left wing extremism (LWE) in the forests of Indravati National Park in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Saturday. While security forces have intensified the combing and area domination operations in the area considered a key Maoist stronghold bordering Telangana, human rights activists and groups claimed that the encounters part of the operation that began on Thursday (June 5) were 'staged'. Two top Maoist leaders —Sudhakar alias Gautam and Mailarapu Adelu alias Bhaskar — have been neutralised in the ongoing operation, involving personnel from the state police's Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) as well as the CRPF's specialised unit CoBRA, police said in a statement. 'On Thursday, security personnel recovered the body of Sudhakar, a senior Central Committee member and a top-ranking ideologue of the CPI (Maoist). The following day, on Friday, Mailarapu Adelu alias Bhaskar — a prominent Maoist leader from Telangana — was found dead at a nearby location,' police said. Bhaskar, according to police, was reportedly the secretary of the Mancherial-Komarambheem division of Telangana state committee member and carried a reward of ₹45 lakh ( ₹25 lakh from Chhattisgarh and ₹20 lakh from Telangana). Sudhakar carried a bounty of ₹40 lakh in Chhattisgarh. Subsequent operations on Friday night and early hours on Saturday led to the recovery of five more bodies, including two women, whose identities are yet to be ascertained, police said, adding all of them are active cadres of the outlawed CPI (Maoist). Meanwhile, several human rights activists and groups on Saturday claimed that the Chhattisgarh police killed Maoist cadres one-by-one in staged encounters after taking them into custody. 'Senior Maoist leaders including… Sudhakar and … Bhaskar were in police custody before being killed in staged encounters on Thursday and Friday respectively in the Indravati National Park area,' Telangana civil rights association alleged in a statement on Saturday. Claiming he had information from multiple sources about Maoist leaders being in the custody of the Chhattisgarh police, association president Lakshman Gaddam said: 'We demand they should be produced before the court.' The association further claimed that several other senior Maoist leaders like Bandi Prakash, Indravati National Park area secretary Dilip, Maddeedu area secretary Seetu, Ramanna, Munna, Sunitha, Mahesh, and around 10 others remain in police custody and are at risk of being killed similarly. The body demanded that Maoists leaders be produced before a magistrate while calling for a ceasefire between LWE ultras and security forces. Police, however, rejected the claims as baseless, maintaining that all actions were lawful and in strict accordance with operational protocols. 'In strict adherence to the constitutional mandate and legal framework of the Republic of India, the security forces remain committed to safeguarding the lives, rights and properties of the native population in the region. All operational activities are conducted in accordance with the provisions of law, ensuring due process, restraint, and accountability at every stage,' Inspector General of Police (IGP), Bastar Range, Sunderraj P said. The senior police further said that any actions undertaken by the security forces during the course of operations are fully compliant with legal norms, standing operational procedures (SOPs), and the principles enshrined in the Constitution. The IGP also warned against the spread of 'unsubstantiated allegations, misinformation, or speculative narratives' that undermine the morale of the forces and mislead the public. A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including two AK-47 rifles, has been seized in the operation, police said, adding that search and area domination operations were underway in the surrounding forested terrain to track remaining Maoist cadres and ensure complete sanitisation of the region. A few security personnel have suffered injuries due to snakebite, honeybee sting, dehydration and other operational injuries during the operation and were provided medication, the statement said. 'The operation — part of an intensified crackdown on Maoist presence in the National Park area — continues with ground forces conducting search and flush-out operations across the surrounding forest terrain,' the statement added.
