Karnataka Timeline 2016

Date

Incidents

An inter-State meeting of senior forest personnel in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala held at Bandipura in Karnataka, held after an interval of three years, decided to intensify joint operations to tackle the CPI-Maoist activities in the forest areas of the region, Pramod G. Krishnan, Chief Conservator of Forest, (Wildlife, Palakkad), said. The meet offered all assistance to Police Forces in combing operations to tackle Maoist menace. As part of this, anti-poaching activities information would be exchanged each other.

Banners suspected to have been put up by the CPI-Maoist have surfaced in Sringeri taluk of Chikkamagaluru District of Karnataka, addressing elected representatives and officials with regard to various issues, including clearance of encroachments, the controversial tiger project and granting land to the landless. Residents of Bukkadi Bailu village, near Sringeri, found around 10 such banners.

The Chikkamagaluru District Police took into custody a suspected CPI-Maoist who was arrested in Bengaluru. The arrested has been identified as Shivakumar alias Ramesh (51), a native of Raichur. He is wanted in 24 cases registered in various Police Stations in Chikkamagaluru and other Districts. He is said to be the key organiser of the Naxal movement in the State. "We have arrested Shivakumar alias Ramesh. He is the key person in organising the Naxals in the State. He was coordinating with his counterparts in other States. We traced him to Bengaluru and have taken him into police custody for 10 days," K. Annamalai, SP, informed.

Recently arrested CPI-Maoist leader Ramesh alias Shivakumar, now in Chikkamagaluru Police custody, has made startling revelations regarding his plans to blast Government offices in Sringeri and Koppa taluks in Chikkamagaluru District of Karnataka by this month end. Until recently, no major Naxal activities except for some posters and banners were observed in the Malnad region. During interrogation, Ramesh allegedly confessed to having made preparations to conduct blasts at Government offices and execute the plan in association with his accomplices, said sources. Sources added that Ramesh, arrested in Bengaluru on September 12, had taken the responsibility of leading Naxals in the State. Police have also obtained information that only 5-6 Naxals including Vanajakshi, Mundagaru Latha, Suresh alias Pradeep and John have been operating in the State, while Vikram Gowda and B G Krishnamurthy are concentrating on Kerala. Kuppuswamy is said to have been the central committee member of South India, has been reportedly receiving information from Ramesh. According to Police, the entire Naxal activity in South India will come to a halt if Kuppuswamy is arrested. Police had planned to nab Kuppuswamy last month through his association with Ramesh but he managed to escape after a chase.

The SFs of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu decided to launch a joint operation, following specific intelligence information that CPI-Maoist had increasingly been using the forest tri-junction of the southern states as a safe haven. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held in Kochi in Ernakulam District of Kerala, in the wake of the arrest of suspected ISIS sympathisers in Kerala and the surging Maoist infiltration into South Indian States. Earlier, intelligence agencies had received information about a secret meet of the Maoists held in Wayanad on September 14, which was attended by a Maoist 'central committee' member who was reportedly hiding in the tri-junction area. At the high-level meeting, a specific strategy was laid out detailing the role of the security formations of each State, and modalities were worked out for preventing Maoists from hiding in the border Districts of Kerala and Karnataka, besides Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. "We received information from reliable sources that Maoists advancing North Indian states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were using the tri-junction area as hideout. The infiltrating extremists include senior Maoist leaders who control regional operations. A joint action is needed, considering the possibility of Maoists crossing the border and escaping to another State when the police force of a particular state launches crackdown," a senior officer said. However, CRPF DG, K Durga Prasad said that ever since SFs intensified their crackdown, threat from LWEs had come down in the Southern States.

Four CPI-Maoist cadres identified as Nilaguli Padmanabha (45), a prominent leader, Rizwana Begum alias Kalpana (33), Bharati alias Deepa, and Raju alias Parashuram (40). Padmanabha, a native of Nilaguli in Koppa taluk in the Malnad region in Shimoga District, returned to the mainstream. SP, K. Annamalai said, the Maoists had written to the State committee expressing their willingness to return to the mainstream. Deputy Commissioner G. Satyavati said, as per the Government's rehabilitation policy, Naxals who returned to the mainstream would get INR 500,000 in cash besides financial assistance for vocational training.

Surrendered Naxal Nilaguli Padmanabha (45) was produced before the court at Koppa tehsil in Chikkamagaluru District. Padmanabha was one of the four Naxals [Rizwana Begum alias Kalpana (33), Bharati alias Deepa, and Raju alias Parashuram (40)] who had surrendered before the District Administration under Naxal Rehabilitation Package on November 15, 2016.

The ongoing tribal agitation against eviction from forest areas in Kodagu District took an interesting turn with the Karnataka Government suspecting the involvement of Naxals and cadres from a Kerala-based organization that has figured in several terror-related probes. Kodagu District in-charge Minister M R Seetharam told reporters that Police reports clearly point to infiltration of Naxals into tribal pockets. Terror elements from Kerala too have joined them. These groups are instigating tribals in Kodagu District against moving out of the forests. The tribals are being provoked to reject the rehabilitation packages being rolled out by the State Government."