19 Naxalites arrested in separate operations in Chhattisgarh

Sukma: At least 19 Naxalites, three of them carrying bounty, were arrested by the security forces in separate operations in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, police said on Tuesday.

As many as 14 Naxalites were apprehended from the Jagargunda police station area, while five were caught in the Bhejji police station limits on Sunday, an official said. Joint teams of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), 219th and 150th battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force and 201st battalion of CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action — an elite unit of CRPF) were involved in the two actions, he said. Of the 14 men, aged between 18 to 40 years, held in Jagargunda, three carried a bounty of Rs 1 lakh each, he said. The official said the trio included Barse Hadma (25), a militia commander, and Barse Nagesh (20) and Hemla Jitu (18), who were working with CNM (Chetna Natya Mandli — a frontal wing of Maoists), he said.

The security forces recovered three gelatin rods, 300 gm of gunpowder, cordex wire, firecrackers, detonators, electric wire and batteries from the 14 cadres, he said. Similarly, five cadres were apprehended from Bhejji. They were allegedly involved in the murders of a villager in Bhandarpadar in September and an electrician engaged in laying a power transmission line in the same village in February this year, the official said. The arrested men were active in the outlawed outfit for eight to ten years, he added.