Mumbai: The Gadchiroli police have seized cache of arms including three AK-47 automatics, two 303 rifles and four 12-bore rifles from the 16 Perimili Dalam naxals who were gunned down in a daylight operation on Sunday. The specially trained C-60 commandos along with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) carried out the operation after they learnt that the naxals had set up riverside camp inside Kasansur jungle.
Among the 16 naxals killed in the ambush seven are women, officials said, adding that over the year they had changed the strategy of using women as shield during anti naxal operations. Six of those killed are yet to be identified, police said.
“The tri-junction of Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh-Madhya Pradesh is the focal area for naxal activity. We rely heavily on the local intelligence and the trend has been that naxal defectors are reaching out to us and providing specific inputs. This has demoralized the cadre,” said Satish Mathur, state director general of police.
The two divisional committee members identified as Bijendar Rauthu alias Shrinu alias Shrikant (51) and Dolesh Madi Aatram alias Sainath, (36) had reward of '76 lakh declared by several states over the period.
“The duo had made this one of the most active dalams their elimination is one of the big achievements. Though the exact plans of the dalam is not known yet, they would make small action groups for carrying out attacks. Most of these operations would take place across the state,” added Mr Mathur.
Over the last six years 605 naxals have surrendered and have been rehabilitated, police said. State has also sanctioned '50 crore to chief secretary as revolving funds among which '16 crore has been used for repairs and construction of roads in naxal infested areas, officials said.
