In a significant breakthrough, Central and state intelligence agencies cracked the Maoist gameplan while Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon was being kept hostage by the Maoists.
The agencies were able to gather inputs on conversations of Maoists leaders in the area, which along with the technical surveillance finally led to the release of the collector on Thursday, ending a 12-day hostage crisis in Chhattisgarh. Top government sources said that the intelligence agencies were successful in gathering technical intelligence inputs which gave them an edge in handling the hostage crisis in Chhattisgarh compared to the Orissa crisis.
The intelligence inputs, gathered by the agencies, laid bare the cracks within the Maoists ranks as some Naxal leaders suspected to be belonging to Andhra Pradesh were heard worrying about a backlash following the collector’s abduction. There was an equal amount of pressure this time from the Maoist sympathisers to release Mr Menon, a development-oriented officer who was popular among villagers. This, along with the support of the villagers and the media, allowed the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh to take a hard stand and not give in to the Maoists demands during the negotiations with the Maoists, which did not happen in Orissa.
“We could make good use of technical assets. And we caught them while they were talking,” said a senior security official.
In what is being seen as a success story by the security agencies, UAVs also made successful surveillance of the forested areas giving coordinates of the suspected locations of the Maoist hideouts.
Maoist leaders who were holding Mr Menon captive in a rebel-dominated forested area near Chinta-lnar village in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh came under intense pressure from within, something which allowed the security agencies to indicate to the state government to step up the pressure.