Deccan Herald reports that Intelligence agencies have warned Karnataka that
the Communist Party of India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
cadres are attempting to regroup
in Malnad area benefiting
from Police's reluctance to
initiate action against them
and growing discontent among
the villagers living close
to the thick jungles of the
Western Ghat over their land
ownership. The Maoists are
giving high priority to increasing
their footfalls in the about
100-kilometre stretch of Malnad
area - comprising seven Districts
of Chikmagalur, Shimoga, parts
of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada,
Hassan and Kodagu – and have
deputed central committee
member Kuppu Swami to establish
a base and recruit cadres.
Swami, who hails from Bangalore, has been tasked with supervising
the expansion plan as he is
familiar with the territory
and knows the local dialect.
Masquerading under assumed
identities such as Kuppu Devaraj,
Ramesh, Rayanna, Balaji, Jogesh
and Yogesh, Kuppu Swami carries
a reward of INR 700,000 and
INR 1 million announced by
Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh
Governments respectively.
Intelligence inputs with the
Security Forces (SF’s) suggest
that the cadres from neighbouring
Tamil Nadu and Kerala are
camping in the Western Ghats along with local Maoists
belonging to groups led by
Vikram Gowda, Latha, Mahesh
and Sundari. |
