Naxals have issued a diktat asking the tribal policemen serving in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Bastar region to pay one third of their salary or quit their job, police sources said on Wednesday
A senior police officer posted in the region quoting intelligence reports told this newspaper that the a meeting of senior Naxal leaders operating in Bastar was held in Koleiguda forest under Bheji police station in Sukma district, carved out of Dantewada district earlier this year, on September 21, where a decision was taken to issue an ultimatum to the former SPOs, who have been absorbed in recently constituted Chhattisgarh Auxiliary Force (CAF), following abolition of post of SPO, either to pay part of their salary to Maoists or resign from job.
“If the tribal policemen defied the diktat, then they will be abducted and produced in the jan adalats — kangaroo courts set up Maoists — and their family in their villages will be targeted”, the meeting warned.
South bastar regional committee secretary Ramanna alias Ravulu Srinivas reportedly chaired the meeting, intelligence sources said.
“We have received information about the Naxal meeting in Bheji area. We have also received information about the threat to auxiliary force personnel to share a portion of their salary or face the consequence. Maoists are trying to put psychological pressure on tribal cops to quit their jobs by issuing such threats,” Sukma district SP Abhishek Sandyal told this newspaper.