The Naxals killed two senior Naxal men in Gadchiroli in the early hours of Thursday. The police said there were some internal differences between the two that resulted in the murders, but rubbished reports that the Naxals had abducted 10 villagers and demanded the withdrawal of CRPF personnel in the region.
“Armed Naxals murdered Deora Uttindi, an area sangam president of the Naxals and Ramsai Narote, an area sangam member in the early hours of Thursday in Markegaon village near Chhatisgarh border. Their bodies were found near a road in Savargaon,” said Viresh Prabhu, superintendent of police, Gadchiroli.
According to Mr Prabhu, the deceased were Naxals too though there were no offences registered against them. “There were no offences against the two, but they were Naxals as their names had cropped up during interrogations of various other arrested Naxals,” he said.
Mr Prabhu also rubbished reports that 10 villagers had been abducted and had demanded to withdraw CRPF personnel from the region.
“Our men had gone to the village and spoken with the villagers. They said that no one was abducted from the village. The Naxals have not made any demands to that effect,” he said, adding, “We have formed separate teams and have dispatched them in the nearby jungles to trace the Naxals”.
Meanwhile, after denying the abductions in Maharashtra, Union home secretary R.K. Singh said that the repeated abductions and killings by the CPI (Maoist) is part of the Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) launched by the banned outfit in March. The Intelligence Bureau had shot off warnings to all nine LWE-affected states ahead of the first instance of Maoist abduction of the two Italians in Orissa that the banned outfit will carry out an offensive in the coming months.
The IB had suggested defensive measures such as “alerting possible targets, including police informers and political functionaries in the Maoist hitlist, ensuring security of police establishments, sensitising individual troops and police to avoid unnnecessary movement in sensitive areas.” The IB, in its advisory, also suggested offensive measures by security forces such as operations by specialised forces, laying ambushes at water points, neutralisation of active militants by conducing raids and cordon and search operations.