Chhattisgarh Timeline 2010

January 2: Chhattisgarh Police said that it has devised a new strategy to combat the CPI-Maoist by packing a small area with adequate security personnel to force the Maoists to flee and develop it later.

January 4: The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has cut down iron ore transportation by 35 percent daily since January 1 as railway authorities have cancelled movement of goods trains during the night due to a shutdown call by the CPI-Maoist in Chhattisgarh.

January 5-6: The CPI-Maoist cadres killed a tribal civilian on suspicion of him acting as a Police informer in the Dantewada District.

January 6: At a forested village Gorkha under Bhejji Police Station, G. S. Marawi, the Additional Superintendent of Police (Dantewada) and a Special Police Officer, Bhunesh, sustained serious injuries when they stepped on a pressure-mine planted by the Maoists.

Two people were arrested and marijuana plants over a 10-acre uprooted in Bijapur District, a senior Police officer said adding that the plants were being grown by Maoists.

Four Maoists were arrested from Dantewada District, Police said. They arrestees were identified as Dashalram, Sonuram, Gunjam Somal and Barla Node. The extremists were arrested from forests near Kamakut village, Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra told PTI. Police suspect the arrested to be behind the torching of trucks belonging to a construction company in December 2009.

January 8: A Union Home Ministry report revealed that among the worst Naxal (left wing extremism)-infested States, maximum Naxalites were killed in Chhattisgarh.

January 9: Four CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with a Police party comprising the CoBRA and the Koya Commandos at Surpanaguda area near Jagurugondo in Dantewada District.

January 10: A total of 23,051 kilograms of marijuana was seized in Chhattisgarh in 2009, Police said.

January 11: The SFs shot dead three CPI-Maoist cadres during an encounter in the Bijapur District.

Six cadres of the CPI-Maoist, wanted in several cases including arson, were arrested in the Dantewada District.

January 13: Chhattisgarh has received INR 1490 million aid from the Union Government since 2005-06 for modernising its Police force.

January 15: Two CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in a gun battle in the Dantewada District.

January 19: 13 CPI-Maoist cadres and one Salwa Judum (anti-Maoist vigilante group) activist were killed in a firing between Maoists and the Police in the dense Pareshgadh forest area, near Andhra Pradesh border, of Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh.

January 26: The CPI-Maoist cadres blocked roads in the Narayanpur District during their three-day shutdown, which began on January 25.

January 27: The CPI-Maoist cadres set 19 vehicles ablaze including trucks and excavators in Dantewada District. All the four-wheeler vehicles were a part of a project of the National Mineral Development Corporation in Kirandul area.

January 29: Chhattisgarh Government could consider changing the State's tendu patta (leaves of Diospyros melonoxylon) policy in a move to choke the income line of the CPI-Maoist.

January 29: A CRPF trooper was killed in a CPI-Maoist-triggered pressure bomb blast at Ettegata village on Injaram-Bheji road in the Dantewada District.

Head Constable Ajay Bhagat of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force was injured in a gun battle with the Maoists near Karkeli in Bijapur District.

The Police raided a Maoist hideout in the forests near Hatkara village in Kanker District in the early morning of January 29 and arrested a woman Maoist leader Renu Mandavi.

January 31: The CRPF has adopted two villages in Chhattisgarh - Jakba and Lokhandi. "CRPF has started two types of operations. The first one is Operation Green Hunt which is to arrest Maoists by raiding certain areas, and the second is, to adopt villages which are often affected by Maoist attacks," said Subhas Khunte, CRPF officer.

February 3: Eight CPI-Maoist cadres were shot dead by the Police in two gun-battles in Bijapur District. Seven Maoists were killed in forest under Bhairamgarh Police Station when SPOs raided a hideout. Another cadre was gunned down under Bijapur Police Station area.

February 4: Senior officers in the Central Para-military Forces said violence levels had gone down in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra primarily because of the increased deployment of SFs.

February 6: As SFs intensified their efforts to push into the CPI-Maoist controlled Abuz Maad area in the Bastar forests of southern Chhattisgarh; the Maoist leadership moved the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) fighters into neighbouring Orissa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Intelligence officers believe that there are five companies (each with strength of 100) of the PLGA, which has a strong presence in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Sources said two companies were moved to Orissa, one to Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh, one to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and another to Jharkhand.

February 7: Five CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in a Police encounter in Narayanpur District. The encounter took place at the forest area of Honganar in the District.

February 9: A contingent of Police Force along with 300 SPOs was trapped in a landmine and then ambushed by CPI-Maoist cadres at a village in Dantewada District where they were going to find the whereabouts of 12 missing tribals in pursuance of the Supreme Court's February 8 order.

February 12: Two CPI-Maoist cadres, including a woman, were shot dead by the Police during a combing operation at Gangloor area in Bijapur District. One rifle and some explosives were recovered from the incident site.

February 17: A group of 50 cadres and supporters of the CPI-Maoist dragged two villagers out of their house and killed them in Kanker District suspecting them to be Police informers.

One person, identified as Charan Singh was arrested for allegedly assisting Maoists after some explosives and Maoist literature were seized from his house in Dhamtari District.

February 20: Police arrested 11 cadres of the CPI-Maoist from Durgkondal area in Kanker District and seized explosives and guns from them.

February 21: Suspected CPI-Maoist cadres blew up a state-run school building at Maheshwari village in Jamui District.

February 23: The CPI-Maoist cadres killed Basudeo Singh (55), a farmer of Hasanpur village under Rajepur Police station in Motihari District, suspecting him to be a Police informer. Police recovered four posters, 12 empty cartridges of 9 mm pistol, two live cartridges and one live cartridge of a Self Loading Rifle (SLR) from the spot.

Armed cadres of the CPI-Maoist set ablaze two vehicles and equipment of two private construction companies engaged in road construction at Mauar Khaira and Hawai villages in Aurangabad District, apparently for not meeting extortion demand.

March 2: Security Forces seized a huge cache of arms, ammunition and communication equipment from a hideout of the CPI-Maoist in the Narayanpur forest of Chhattisgarh. Police recovered pipe bombs, rifles and Maoist uniforms.

March 3: Five cadres of the CPI-Maoist were arrested along with loaded guns and Maoist literature from Murarpani village in Rajnandgaon District.

March 5: The Chhattisgarh Police arrested five cadres of the CPI-Maoist from Rowghat Forest area in Kanker District. The arrested Maoists were identified as Lakhmu, Jai Singh, Santu, Hannu and Kohlu. Lakhmu was presiding over the Gardha Area Committee of the Maoists.

March 7: Suspected cadres of the CPI-Maoist abducted a security personnel posted with the DRDO unit in Bastar from Gorli area in Dantewada District. Police said 26-year-old Vinay Kumar Chouhan, who was on leave, belonged to Kukanar village.

March 10: A ‘deputy commander’ of the CPI-Maoist, Madhu Markam (25), was arrested by the Police from a thickly forested stretch in Kanker District. Markam, who hails from Bijapur in Bastar was carrying a reward of INR 150,000 on his head. The Police recovered explosives and Maoist literature from Markam.

March 12: Chhattisgarh State’s Panchayatraj (local level self-Government) Minister Ramvichar Netam said in the State Legislative Assembly that the CPI-Maoist cadres have stopped work of 300 roads which were to be constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in the Bastar region.