19 naxalites held from Bastar division in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: As many as 19 naxals, two of them carrying cash rewards on their heads, were today arrested from separate places in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Bastar division, police said.

While 16 ultras, including a woman, were apprehended by a joint team of security forces from Narayanpur district, three others were held in Bijapur district, a senior police official told PTI.

In Narayanpur, a joint squad of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and district force (DF) had lunched the search operation in the villages of Musnar, Toyameta, Pugarpal and Irpanar under Chhotedongar police station area when they nabbed the ultras, he said.

Of them, Sukhram Usendi (40), who was active as head of Aderbeda Janatana Sarkar squad of Maoists, was carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, he said.

Similarly, the woman cadre, Janila Mandavi (30), who was working as the head of Toyameta’s Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Majdoor Sangthan (DAKMS), a frontal wing of Maoists, was also carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on her head, he added.

Rest of the 14 cadres was associated with the outlawed CPI (Maoist) as militia or DAKMS members, according to the official.

In another operation, three ultras, identified as Somaru Vekko, Asharam Vekka and Rajman Mandavi, were arrested by a team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) from Keshkutul Surakhada forest in Bhairmgarh area of Bijapur, he added.

While Vekko was active as a militia commander, Vekka was working as the deputy commander of CNM (Chetna Natya Manch-a cultural wing of Maoists) and Mandavi as its member, he said.

They all were allegedly involved in naxal-related incidents like loot, attempt to murder and attacks on police personnel, the official said.