Maoist Timeline - 2008

Andhra Pradesh

January 2: Three Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, identified as ‘district committee member Gunaganti Yadaiah alias Shyam (carrying head money of INR 300000), Nakka Raju alias Shekar and Boddu Kishtamma alias Shoba, both dalam (squad) members carrying head money of INR 20000 each, surrendered along with their weapons before the Superintendent of Police, Charu Sinha, at Mahabubnagar district headquarters. All the three extremists were accused of killing the Amangal mandal (administrative division) parishad president, R. Panthu Naik, in the district. Shyam was also reportedly involved in over 33 crimes, including the killing of Maktal Member of Legislative Assembly Chittem Narsi Reddy.

January 4: A squad member of the CPI-Maoist, identified as D. Srinu alias Vikram, who planned to extort INR One milion from businessmen in the Rangareddy district was arrested from Vanasthalipuram locality in the capital city of Hyderabad. Cyberabad Police Commissioner, S. Prabhakar Reddy, told that Srinu had earlier collected INR 10,000 from the businessman in Vanasthalipuram in December 2007. He approached the same businessman again with a fresh demand for INR One million but was caught by the police. The police also recovered an AK-47 rifle with 50 bullets from his possession.

January 8: The CPI-Maoist cadres killed D. Ramaswamy, a leader of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) party, at Baavurugonda village in the Koththaguda mandal of Warangal district. The group of Maoists was led by Yellandu-Koththagudem area committee secretary Marri Ravi alias Sudhakar. The insurgents also left a letter in the name of Sudhakar alleging that Ramaswamy was responsible for the encounters in the Koththaguda agency area.

January 9: The Devarakonda police unearthed a dump reportedly planted by the CPI-Maoist near a remote Kambalapally village in the Nalgonda district and recovered two plastic drums. "There are about 50 books in one of the drums," said the Deputy Superintendent of Police M. Srinivas. Apart from 125 electric detonators, a grenade launcher, about twenty four .22 bullets, a plastic cover, eight pairs of shoes, revolutionary literature was also recovered in the dump.

January 10: In a joint statement, the CPI-Maoist ‘North Telangana Special Zone Committee’ secretary, Chandranna, and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) Janashakthi group, "Godavari Valley Area Committee" secretary, Bharat, criticized the Congress Party for its decision to constitute a second States’ Reorganisation Commission (SRC). They accused the Congress Party, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) of working for the interests of the rich people from Andhra Pradesh.

January 11: Suspected cadres of the CPI-Maoist set ablaze a road construction machinery between Vanpalli and Garjanapalli villages of Yellareddypet mandal in the Karimnagar district.

Ramagundam police arrested two Maoist cadres and recovered a tapancha (country made fire arm) from their possession in the Karimnagar district.

January 13: A CPI-Maoist couple, identified as Thalandi Motiram alias Akash, a former deputy commander of Mangi dalam, and his wife Shaikh Haseena alias Saroja, also a former member of the same dalam, surrendered to the Adilabad district police. The Maoist couple, carrying a reward of INR 10000, were involved in nine and three cases respectively and citied health reasons and disillusionment with party ideology for surrendering. Motiram had joined the extremist outfit on October 2001 as Mangi dalam member and was a member of the North Telangana Special Zone Committee, till 2004. Later he worked as commander of a special guerrilla squad till 2006. Haseena joined the Mangi dalam on 2005. At present they were working in Dandakaranya area in Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh State since December 2006.

A deputy commander of Galikonda platoon of the CPI-Maoist, identified as P. Chinnabbai alias Ramakrishna, surrendered before the East Godavari Superintendent of Police B. Sreenivasulu at Kakinada. Ramakrishna, a native of Cheedigunta village of G.K. Veedhi mandal in the Visakhapatnam district, had joined the outfit in 2002 as a courier.

January 14: Five CPI-Maoist cadres of the Galikonda dalam, including three women, surrendered before the Superintendent of Police Akun Sabharwal in Visakhapatnam. The three were identified as G. Mohan Rao alias Jambri, a commander in the Galikonda Platoon and his wife Korra Kavitha alias Kamala, an area committee member, Korra Lakshmi, Korra Bonju Babu, and Vanthala Balamma, a militia member.

January 15: A Maoist couple was killed in an exchange of fire with the police in a forest area in the Govindraopet sub-division of Warangal district. The slain extremists were identified as Satayya alias Suresh Anna, Secretary of Warangal, Karimnagar and Khammam district units of the CPI-ML Praja Pratighatna group, and his wife Rani, who was a commander of the party's armed squad. The police recovered a spring loading rifle, a pistol and two kit bags from them.

January 17: Two CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with the police in Buruguvada village of Vararamachandrapuram sub-division in Khammam district. The deceased extremists were identified as Aithu alias Bhagat, 25, and Madakam Kosa, 26. They were suspected to be the commander and deputy commander, respectively, of the Bhadrachalam local organisational squad.

An activist of the ruling Congress party, Payam Lakhmaiah, was stabbed to death by CPI-Maoist cadres in the Sampathnagar village of Khammam district. The police said that a six-member action team of the CPI-Maoist from Kothaguda (Warangal district) struck at his house at 10 p.m. and killed him in the presence of his family members. Extremists of the Sudhakar dalam, which is said to have carried out the killing also left behind a letter branding him a police informer.

January 18: A civilian, Samireddy Ganeshwar Rao of Beram village, was hacked to death by the CPI-Maoist cadres at Pulumamidi village in the G. Madugula sub-division of Visakhapatnam district. In a letter found near Rao’s body, the Maoists held him responsible for the Amidela police encounter (September 24, 2007) wherein four Maoists were killed.

Six cadres of different left-wing extremist groups surrendered before the Superintendent of Police, D.S. Chouhan, in the Khammam district. The surrendered extremists included Mokala Sammaiah alias Kumara, Komaram Bikkaiah alias Ravanna, Bandi Yugandar, Komaram Saraiah, Eesam Krishna and Boda Nageswar Rao.

Police arrested three extremists working for the Sudhakar dalam of the CPI-Maoist in the Yellandu area in the Khammam district. They were identified as Punem Narasimha, Menchu Mallaiah and Joga Rama Rao.

January 19: Deccan Chronicle reported that Police are distributing free Direct-to-Home (DTH) systems and 21-inch colour television sets in the Maoist-affected remote areas of Warangal district to wean villagers away from the Maoists. The villages are located on the edges of Warangal district in the sub-divisions of Eturunagaram, Tadvai, Govindaraopet, Venkatapur, Kothaguda and Gudur. "We want the villagers to widen their horizons and not be susceptible to propaganda and the so-called ideologies (of Maoists)," said Soumya Mishra, the Warangal Superintendent of Police.

The Hindu reported that the CPI-Maoist, as part of a major redeployment exercise, has drafted cadres from the neighbouring State of Chhattisgarh for stepping up its presence in its strategically important strongholds of Khammam district. Members trained in guerrilla warfare were deputed in large numbers to the region and a majority of them were closely associated with the operations spearheaded by Maoist squads in the Bhadrachalam and Yellandu areas. Members from Chhattisgarh have joined the Sabari area committee operating in the Bhadrachalam division.

January 21: A CPI-Maoist ‘deputy commander’, Korra Rama Rao alias Manoj, surrendered before the Visakhapatnam district Superintendent of Police Akun Sabharwal. Rao joined as a member of the Galikonda special dalam in 2002 and gradually rose to the position of ‘deputy commander’ of Palakajeedi dalam. He was shifted as ‘deputy commander’ of Galikonda platoon, after the Palakajeedi dalam was banned. He was involved in more than 10 exchanges of fire with the police and a murder at Peddavalasa.

January 22: Maoists called for building a militant movement for achieving statehood for the Telangana region. In a statement issued, the CPI-Maoist spokesman in Andhra Pradesh, Janardhan, said political leaders from the Telangana region were now being forced to speak in favour of carving out a separate State in view of the growing aspirations among the people of Telangana region.

January 26: CPI-Maoist cadres shot dead three persons, accusing them of being police informers, at Borlagunda village in the Karimnagar district. According to the police, a group of 15 Maoists entered the village at around 2 am (IST), picked up the three from their homes and gunned them down. The three had been associated with the Maoist outfit in the past.

January 29: According to a statement issued by the District Police, Muvvala Vannama alias Vara, a 20-year old member of the Galikonda dalam of the CPI-Maoist surrendered to the G.K. Veedhi Police in Visakhapatnam district. A native of Pedapadu village of G.K. Veedhi sub-division, she joined the squad in 2005 and worked for about one-and-a-half years in it.

January 30: Guntur district police recovered arms and ammunition from two dumps belonging to the CPI-Maoist at Bollapalli and Papayapalem reserve forest areas. The seizure included two .303 rifles, a .38 rifle, .8 mm rifle, country made revolver, a S.B.B.L gun, revolver rounds and .38 rifle spare magazines. Police also recovered two landmines weighing 10 kilograms and three kilograms respectively, and 100 books of revolutionary literature.

February 2: The CPI-Maoist Central Committee member Lanka Papi Reddy Ranganna surrendered before the State Home Minister K. Jana Reddy in the Hyderabad Secretariat. Papi Reddy served the banned outfit in various capacities in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh before being made in-charge of Haryana, a position he held till the surrender.

February 3: A woman was beaten to death in the Warangal district by naxalites belonging to the Prathighatana group who suspected her to be a police informer. Police sources told that about 10 naxalites attacked P Sharda who owns a grocery shop in the Muttapuram village and left her dead.

Three naxalites including a self-styled commander of Kunta platoon, were arrested in the Gathumalla forest of Khammam district bordering Chhattisgarh. The arrested persons belonging to Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district have been identified as 'commander' Madkam Kosa alias Gangu, Deva and Sanna.

A CPI-Maoist cadre identified as Thummala Bhagavanthu alias Narsimha was arrested in Mahabubnagar district. A 303 rifle, 55 live rounds and INR 20,000 in cash were recovered from his possession. Narsimha was the ‘commander’ of Kalwakurthy dalam and was active in the Nallamala forest. He had joined the naxal movement in 1989 and was involved in over 90 offences, including murders, police sources said.

February 5: Three CPI-Maoist cadres from Chhattisgarh were arrested by the police in the Kothagudem area. The arrested included ‘commander of the Konta platoon Section –C’ Madakam Posa alias Ganga, the dalam members Deva and Sanna. Unspecified quantity of explosives were seized from them.

February 6: The CPI-Maoist ‘Protection platoon commander’ of North Telangana special zone committee (NTSZC) Ambir Kistaiah alias Krishna and his wife and NTSZC special guerrilla squad ‘deputy commander’ Alam Laxmi alias Sumalatha surrendered before Superintendent of Police Y. Gangadhar in the presence of OSD Harikrishna in Karimnagar. Kistaiah was involved in the Asarelli police station attack in Maharashtra in 2000 and where he took away 20 SLRs, four .303 rifles, one revolver. He revealed that the Maoists are planning to comeback with a vengeance in its erstwhile stronghold of Dandakaranya in the north Telangana region by committing major offences to make their presence felt. The protection platoon of NTSZC is moving in groups of 25 to 30 members to commit a major offence and regain their lost ground. Later, the platoon committee members would split into smaller groups and move separately to commit offences on individual targets. He also said that the NTSZC meeting was held in November 2007 and it discussed about the economic support and strengthening of the dalams. He said that there were about 50 Maoists in entire NTSZC including 28 in KKW (Karimnagar, Khammam and Warangal districts).

February 11: A zonal secretary belonging to the Praja Prathighatana faction for Khammam-Warangal region was killed in an encounter with the police in Venkatapuram forests in Allapalli police station limits in the Khammam district. Two cell phones, four SIM cards, kitbags, a spring field rifle, one 8 mm rifle were recovered from the encounter site.

February 14: A cadre of the CPI-Maoist was killed during an encounter with a police party at Lovavalasa in the Vizianagaram district. He was identified as Rukdar alias Sudheer, the Malkangiri divisional committee member in Orissa. According to police sources, rest of the Maoists belonging to the Koraput dalam managed to escape from the incident site.

February 22: Police neutralized a CPI-Maoist arms dump at the Reddypalem forest area in Karampudi police station limits of Guntur district. The recovery was done on the basis of information provided by some of the arrested Maoists. The recovered arms included 10 claymore mines, four country made grenades and piped grenades, 50 detonators, a .303 rifle and a tapancha (country made fire arm) and some revolutionary books.

Police arrested B. Srinivas Reddy alias Jagan, a Naxalite belonging to the Subhash group of Praja Pratighatana in the Adilabad district. The Maoist was reportedly involved in several cases of extortion in Adilabad and Karimnagar districts besides few other offences.

February 28: Seven CPI-Maoist cadres including some teenagers surrendered in the Visakhapatnam district.

Police distributed a dozen colour television sets along with Tata Sky antennae and connection for one year to the tribals of remote areas in the Visakhapatnam district. Under the programme "Call for Peace," the police held a meeting at Kailasagiri where the tribals from the Maoist-affected Koyyuru, GK Veedhi, Chintapalle and other areas were given away TV sets. DIG Jitender said that they were trying to wean away tribals from the influence of Maoists and sensitise them on various development activities. The police also promised to conduct more medical camps, distribute volleyball and cricket kits among youth so as to strengthen their rapport with the tribals.

February 29: Police personnel neutralised two landmines planted by the CPI-Maoist on the road at Dagudupalli under Annavaram police station limits in the Visakhapatnam district. The explosives weighed 15 kilograms and five kilograms, and were packed in steel carriages.

A teenaged female cadre of the CPI-Maoist, identified as Gundu Uppamma alias Radhakka, surrendered before the Superintendent of Police Vijay Kumar at the district headquarters in Nalgonda.

Suspected cadres of the CPI-Maoist killed an activist of the ruling Congress party, identified as G. Prakash, in the outskirts of Baleru village in the Srikakulam district. The extremists also left a letter stating that Prakash was killed because he was working as a police informer in the village.

March 1: CPI-Maoist cadres set ablaze teakwood worth INR two million at Pusuguppa village in the Cherla mandal of Khammam district. Some non-tribals in the name of tribals had taken permission from the Forest Department and cut down teakwood trees. Having learnt that the non-tribals were trying to enjoy the forest produce, the Maoists set the wood on fire.

March 5: Five Maoists, including three ‘commanders’ and a cadre of the CPI-Maoist and a ‘zonal committee secretary’ of the Prathighatana group, surrendered to the district police at Warangal in the presence of Superintendent of Police Soumya Mishra. The surrendered included Kukunoor Local Organising Squad (LOS) ‘commander’, P. Sammaiah alias Naveen (carrying a head money of INR 200000) and his wife M. Pushpa, Narsampet LOS ‘commander’ Kadari Bhaskar alias Ramesh, and ‘commander’ P. Lakshmi alias Pushpa of the CPI-Maoist and Peddapalli zonal committee secretary of the Prathighatana group, K. Chinni Krishna alias Anil.

March 10: The CPI-Maoist and the Janashakti group of the naxalites called for a State-wide bandh (general strike) on March 14, protesting against the visit of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi to the State. A joint statement whose signatories were Chandranna, Maoist North Telangana Special Zonal Committee (NTSZC) secretary, and Bharath, secretary of the Janashakti Godavari Valley Regional Committee, branded Sonia Gandhi an "American agent" and called upon people to observe bandh to protest against her visit. The statement also blamed the ruling Congress party for not taking up any developmental projects for Telangana region and for abandoning its promise of forming a separate State.

March 11: Two CPI-Maoist cadres, including a member of the Andhra Pradesh- Orissa Border (AOB) Special Zone Committee identified as Chokkari Gangaram alias Jagabandhu alias Kommu, were killed in an exchange of fire with police between Kedaripuram and Elvispeta under Elvispeta police station limits of Vizianagaram district.

The Khammam district police conducted an aerial survey of the Maoist affected areas of the district with the help of a helicopter fitted with zoom camera and other gadgets.

March 12: G. Sampath, a cadre of the CPI-Maoist, was killed in an encounter with the police personnel near Peddavagu between Nimmagudem and Pegadapalli villages in the Karimnagar district. He has been identified as a key action team member of the Mahadevpur area.

March 13: 15 Naxalites belonging to different groups surrendered to the Police in the Khammam and Kurnool districts. While ten extremists, including Vagaboina Saraiah alias Sagar, the district committee secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML)’s Praja Prathighatana group, surrendered in Khammam, five more surrendered in Kurnool. The Officer on Special Duty in Nandyal, Mohan Rao, said that the surrender was a part of the ‘Operation Velugu Bata’ launched by the police.

March 16: Four suspected CPI-Maoist cadres killed a former coal mine worker identified as Pittala Sankaraiah, at his home in the Kanagarthi village of Peddapalli mandal in the Karimnagar district. The son of the slain person had also been killed by the Maoists on suspicion of the former being a police informer.

March 18: Police neutralised an armed gang of former naxalites, named Telangana Jagarana Sena (TJS) in Sircilla sub-division in the Karimnagar district. Seven TJS cadres were arrested and two 9 mm pistols and 16 rounds of ammunition, one air pistol, two dummy pistols, five soap bombs and pellets used in the air-pistols were recovered from their possession. The TJS was formed by former CPI-Maoist cadres and the naxalites belonging to the Janasakthi group to eliminate some soft targets and create a sensation by killing a former Telegu Desam Party (TDP) legislator in the district.

March 19: A CPI-Maoist deputy commander, Dasarapu Radha alias Swapna, carrying a head money of INR 50,000 surrendered before the police in the Warangal district. Superintendent of Police (SP) Soumya Mishra said that Radha hailing from Ramakrishnapur in the Chityal mandal had joined the Chityal dalam in 2003 and worked with top Maoist leaders such as Chettiraja Papaiah alias Somanna and D.V.K. Swamy alias Yadanna. She was working with the newly formed Chennur squad in Adilabad district since 2007.

Boya Ramanjamma alias Umakka, an extremist belonging to the CPI-ML-Janashakti surrendered before SP Shankarbhratha Bagchi in Kurnool district.

March 24: A bandh called by the CPI-Maoist in the Visakha agency to protest the killing of its cadres in police encounters in the recent past, partially affected general life in some places and failed to evoke a response in some other areas. State run bus services to interior areas were suspended. In areas including Paderu, Hukumpeta and Dumbriguda mandals, shops were closed. However, in Chintapalli and the tourism centre of Araku Valley, the strike had no impact.

Andhra-Orissa Border Special Zone Committee East Division Action Team Commander and Galikonda Platoon ‘A’ section member Velusuri Srinivas alias Prasad alias Chinni Vijay (22) surrendered before the East Godavari district Superintendent of Police B. Srinivasulu.

March 25: CPI-Maoist cadres triggered a bomb blast at the Gumada Railway station in the Vizianagaram district. A group of seven Maoists, including three women, planted gelatin sticks at the station after forcing the railway staff on night duty to come out from the station. The signal system was badly damaged due to the blast and traffic between Vizianagaram and Orissa was disrupted following the explosion.

March 29: Kursinge Kousalya Bai alias Kamalakka, a CPI-Maoist woman cadre, surrendered before the Adilabad district police. Kamalakka hails from Lothera in the Jannaram mandal and had participated in the attack on a police camp at Rani-Bodli in the Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh in which 55 policemen were killed.

April 2: A senior CPI-Maoist leader, identified as Gajerla Saraiah a.k.a. Azad a.k.a. Bhaskar, was killed in an encounter with the police near Kanthanpalli in the Rampur forest area of Warangal district. Azad’s wife and another Maoist B. Aruna alias Rama too were killed during the encounter. Azad was a central committee member of the outfit and was in-charge of its central military commission. Four Maoists, however, managed to escape from the incident site fro where a pistol, a revolver, one 30 mm carbine and three kitbags were recovered.

The Eturu Nagaram Local Guerrilla Squad (LGS) ‘commander’ of the CPI-Maoist, Purushotham Tirupathi alias Naresh, surrendered before the Karimnagar district Superintendent of Police Y. Gangadhar. Purushotham, a native of Nandi Medaram village, joined the Maoist group in 2001 and had worked in the Peddapalli dalam and Eturu Nagaram dalam before being promoted as dalam ‘commander’ of Eturu Nagaram LGS in 2005. He was involved in five exchanges of fire and four murders.

April 7: Naxalites of the CPI-ML-Praja Prathighatana killed a youth, identified as Enugula Lakhmaiah, at Thummalagudem village in the Palvancha mandal of Khammam district. Four armed cadres of the Mohananna dalam reportedly intruded into his house and subsequently shot him dead a little away from his residence.

April 12: The lone woman member of the CPI-Maoist Central Committee, 54-year old Anuradha Ghandy, also known as Narmada and Rama, died of cerebral malaria, a release by the outfit’s Central Committee spokesman Azad said. Anuradha had joined the Naxalites in the early 1970s and was the founding member of the CPI-ML in Maharashtra. She also served as a member of the Vidarbha regional committee and the Maharashtra State Committee and was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI-Maoist in January 2007.

April 19: Andhra Pradesh Police arrested two TJS cadres from Sircilla in the Karimnagar district. Two 0.9 mm pistols and 24 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the arrested extremists, identified as Vemula Ramesh a.k.a. Sagar and Chepyala Raju, both natives of Konraopet mandal in the Sircilla division. Superintendent of Police, Y. Gangadhar, claimed that with these arrests the TJS has been neutralised in the Karimnagar district.

April 25: Two CPI-Maoist cadres were arrested at Kinchuru in Peda Bayalu mandal in the Visakhapatnam district. Identified as Vandalam Chinna (20) and Poibu Machi Raju (22), the arrested Maoists were planning to plant two land mines. Two land mines and some quantity of explosives were seized from them.

April 29: CPI-Maoist State committee member, M.A. Srinivasan, surrendered before the Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission. Haling from the Sangareddy district, Srinivasan had joined the left-wing extremist movement in 1985 and was operating in north India since 1993.

May 2: CPI-Maoist Maddedu divisional committee member of the Dandakaranya region, Velpula Rajesh Kumar alias Tirupati and area committee member, local organizing squad (LOS) commander and his wife Chunchu Rama Devi alias Sharada surrendered before Karimnagar Superintendent of Police Y Gangadhar. Tirupati, a native of Khammampalli in Manthani Mutharam mandal of former Assembly Speaker D. Sripada Rao at Dubbalapadu in Manthani division of Karimnagar district. He had joined the left-wing extremism in 1993 as dalam member.

May 5: Three naxalites belonging to the Janasakti faction of the CPI-ML including two senior functionaries of the outfit, were killed during an encounter with police party in Rollapadu forests under Tekulapalli police station limits in the Khammam district. Eight other naxalites, however, managed to escape. Four weapons including two 88 mm rifles, a Springfield rifle and a tapancha (locally made revolver) were recovered from the spot. The slain naxalites were identified as district committee secretary Solipeta Yadava Reddy alias Daya, State committee member Konda Sanjeeva Reddy alies Bhaskar and Pandu Yadagiri alias Arun, a leader of the rank of district committee secretary.

A former Janashakti naxalite was found dead with stab injuries on the outskirts of Kandikatkur village in Illanthakunta mandal in the Karimnagar district. A letter placed besides the body in the name of Telangana Janavimukti Sena (TJS) claimed responsibility for the killing and branded the killed person a police informer.

The Warangal district police arrested eight naxalites belonging to the Praja Pratighatana group in two separate incidents in the Warangal town. In the first incident, the police intercepted a four-wheeler near KITS College on the outskirts of Hanamkonda and arrested five extremists along with a 9mm pistol with eight rounds and one 8mm tapancha with five rounds. Separately, police intercepted another vehicle and arrested three extremists along with three 8 mm rifles, three 9 mm pistols and one-point 38 revolver sans cylinder.

Police recovered one 8 mm rifle and 30 live ammunition from a dump of the Praja Pratighatana at Bugga Cheruvu at Pathipally village in the Warangal district.

Five CPI-Maoist cadres surrendered in Warangal. They were identified as Khammam district committee member CP Koppula Bathakaiah alias Naveen of Tadvai mandal, Chennur Local Guerrilla Squad (LGS) commander, Dudapaka Sampath alias Kondanna of Chityal, Chilpur LGS commander Velmala Bhemavva alias Nirmala of Khanapur in Adilabad, and Khammam district committee member Vajja Samba Rao alias Ashok of Govindraopet mandal.

Three Naxalites belonging to the Communist Party of India-United States of India (CPI-USI) set ablaze a passenger bus in the Borlagudem village of Mahamutharam mandal in the Karimnagar district.

May 6: Two youths, identified as Dabba Chander Rao and Gattupalli Srinu, were abducted by a group of 70 CPI-Maoist cadres from Tippapuram village in the Charla mandal of Khammam district. Both the abducted youths are reportedly supporters of the Communist Party of India (CPI).

May 11: The CPI-Maoist claimed to have killed Gabba Chander Rao, one of the two tribal youths abducted from the Tippapuram village in Charla mandal in the Khammam district. A statement issued by the outfit said that it was forced to punish him for his covert operation which resulted in the killing of 14 leaders and activists of the outfit and four civilians in an encounter at Kanchala in the Pamedu area of Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on March 18.

May 19: Four persons, including a sarpanch (head of village level self-government institution) were abducted by cadres of the CPI-Maoist cadres from tribal villages in the Bhadrachalam division of Khammam district. The sub-divisional police officer of Bhadrachalam, Shashidhar Raj, said that Khanithi Narsaiah, sarpanch of Kurnavalli village, Karam Kannaiah from Erraboru village and Sunnam Venkat Rao and Sunnam Rambabu from Bathinapalli village were taken away from their home by the Maoists at around midnight. Unofficial sources, however, maintained that the total number of abducted persons was 11 and they were abducted by Maoist dalams which came from the neighbouring forests pockets of south Bastar in Chhattisgarh.

May 23: Police in Warangal district recovered two weapons and large number of live rounds of ammunition from dumps suspected to belong to the left-wing extremists. Superintendent of Police V. C. Sajjanar said that during combing operations in the Karlapalli forest area under Govindaraopet mandal recovered one 303 rifle and one spring field rifle, 37 rounds of ammunition of 303 rifle, 28 rounds of 30 carbine, 27 rounds of .38, 47 rounds of springfield, nine round of .63 and eight rounds of .22 weapons from a dump belonging to Praja Pratighatana faction of the CPI-ML.

May 29: A Police constable was killed and three others were injured when the Maoists opened fire on a Police party consisting of anti-Maoist Greyhounds personnel in the Gudem Kotha Veedhi mandal on the Andhra-Orissa border in Visakhapatnam district. Police said that the Maoists, who triggered a landmine explosion, exchanged fire with the Police party, which was combing the area.

May 30: At least four CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with the Andhra Pradesh Police near Gunupurai village in the Visakhapatnam district. Among those killed were Jhansi, a woman ‘Dalam (squad) commander’ of the Korukonda area. Unofficial sources said that Police have arrested three more Maoists during the incident. Police sources, however, did not confirm the arrests.

May 31: The Hindu reports that Maoists have imposed a ban on the use of mobile phones in the tribal habitations in the Bhadrachalam division. At some places in these areas, mobile phones have been taken away by the Maoists. In the past one week, an unspecified number of persons have also been abducted by the Maoists from the villages in the vicinity of Charla on the suspicion of being Police informants. They were reportedly assaulted by the Maoists who also robbed them off their mobile phones and motorcycles.

June 1: A Naxalite belonging to the Praja Pratighatana faction was killed in an encounter with the Police at Mellamadgu village in the Bodu police station limits of Khammam district. Three others Naxalites, however, managed to escape. One 8-mm rifle was recovered from the slain extremist. Police sources said that the extremist dalam was camping at the site encounter for collecting money from contractors engaged in removal of overburden of Singareni opencast mines.

The Visakhapatnam district Police arrested four CPI-Maoist cadres belonging to the Korukonda dalam at Velamjuni village. Two directional mines and an equal number of grenades and a battery for use in blasting were recovered from their possession.

June 3: Naroju Srinu alias Chandranna, the Karimnagar and Khammam districts ‘secretary’ of the Praja Prathigatana faction surrendered before the Karimnagar Superintendent of Police Y. Gangadhar. He deposited three weapons and some ammunition. Chandranna, a native of Khammampalli village had joined the outfit in 2001 as dalam member. Later, he was elevated to work as ‘commander’ and ‘zonal secretary’ in Warangal.

June 5: CPI-Maoist cadres killed an auto rickshaw driver, Thati Bhaskar, suspecting him to be a Police informer at Pusuguppa, a village close to the Chhattisgarh border in the Khammam district. The killed person was accosted on the village outskirts and taken to the nearby jungle where he was shot dead at a close range. The Khammam district committee of the CPI-Maoist left a letter at the spot owning up the killing.

June 18: A group of armed CPI-Maoist cadres along with about 40 overground workers of the outfit looted the house of Panchayat Sarpanch of Pedabayalu village, Jambu Balaraju of the Congress party, in the Visakhapatnam district. Maoists took away INR 200,000 in cash, gold ornaments, several bags of rice, utensils, DVD player and home theatre and also two cows and 16 goats from the house.

Media reports indicated nearly 120,000 Gutti Koya tribals of Bastar and Bijpur districts of Chhattisgarh have crossed over into Andhra Pradesh’s border district of Khammam over the past six months to escape Salwa Judum camps and the Maoist violence. A confidential report of the intelligence bureau has cautioned the Andhra Pradesh government of growing unrest among the local tribals in the border districts and prospective violence unleashed by the Maoists as the Gutti Koyas are known supporters of the CPI-Maoist. "They might also be the advance party of the Maoists’ re-entry into AP", the report said.

June 19: The Andhra Pradesh government raised the reward for information leading to the arrest of left-wing extremists by nearly 20 percent. The government order raised the reward on arrests of top leaders to INR 1.2 million while the same on lower-rank cadres was hiked to INR 100,000. The reward on the state committee members of the CPI-Maoist is now INR 800,000 and on zonal committee members INR 600,000. Claiming that the Maoist movement has suffered huge losses, the government order said the number of armed cadres has come down by 746 since last year. According to the latest list, there are only 474 armed cadres in the state.

June 22: Maoists killed a trader, Balaram, on suspicion that he was a police informer at Neelavadi village under Parvathipuram police sub-division in the Vizianagaram district.

July 2: CPI-Maoist cadres abducted two tribals from Chennapuram village in Cherla mandal in the Khammam district bordering Chhattisgarh. According to police sources, former sarpanch of Pedamidisileru village N Tirupati and his brother Moteru, both natives of Tippapuram village, had gone went to Chennapuram to attend the marriage of their relatives, from where they were abducted.

CPI-Maoist threatened to step up attacks on the police, especially the elite Greyhounds personnel and leaders of the Congress party, if the police resorted to attacks against people to avenge the Chitrakonda ambush in Orissa which left 35 Greyhounds personnel dead. In a statement issued in Hyderabad, the Maoist spokesman in Andhra Pradesh, Janardhan, said that the statements of Chief Minsiter Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Home Minister K. Jana Reddy on the Chitrakonda incident spoke of the government’s plan to unleash repression and target people believed to be Maoist sympathisers. The spokesperson termed the Chitrakonda ambush as a ‘fitting lesson’ to the Greyhounds personnel who had become a law unto themselves. He further said that the success of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) in carrying out the ambush only proved false the claims that the Maoist movement was wiped out from the State.

July 4: P Gajaraju (50) alias Bhadranna, State committee member of the Praja Prathighatana faction of the CPI-ML was shot dead by one of the cadres of the outfit in the Bangaruchelaka forest area in Kothagudem mandal of Khammam district. The police recovered one 8 mm rifle from the scene and a bullet injury was found on the chest of the victim.

July 5: The CPI-Maoist turned down the offer of talks by Home Minister K Jana Reddy after the ambush of the Greyhounds in the Sileru-Balimela reservoir on the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border recently. The outfit, in a statement on July 5 said that it would not repeat its mistake of parleying with the Government. The statement by the outfit’s central military commission chief Basavraj and central committee spokesperson Azad, said, "We assure the people of AP and India that we will not make the mistake of going in for talks with these double-dealers (Congressmen)."

July 8: One person was killed and another suffered serious injuries after suspected CPI-Maoist cadres opened fire at them at Marikal village in the Mahabubnagar district. The victims, identified as Azeem and Niranjan were attending a function in the village.

Jharkhand

January 1: A police constable, identified as Sunil Kumar, was killed and three others wounded when armed CPI-Maoist cadres attacked a police outpost at Bansjore in the Simdega district. "Nearly 500 Maoist rebels surrounded the outpost and hurled petrol bombs before firing indiscriminately around midnight last night. Policemen retaliated and the gunfight lasted till three in the morning," said Sergeant Major J.K. Jha. Police have claimed some fatality on the Maoists side on the basis of bloodstains found at the encounter site. A civilian was also injured in the attack.

An explosion targeting the Simdega Superintendent of Police, D.B. Sharma, who was rushing with police re-enforcement to the encounter site, and a brief exchange of fire between the police and extremists occurred at Keriaghati. However, no casualty was reported in the incident.

January 3: A joint team comprising police personnel of Palamau and Garwah districts raided Obra village under Bishrampur police station in the Palamau district and arrested five alleged CPI-Maoist supporters. Five guns were recovered from their possession.

The Garhwa district Superintendent of Police, Saket Singh, suspended a police constable, identified as Mukesh Kumar Singh, on the charges of passing information to the Maoists. Police sources said that the conduct of Mukesh was under the scanner since he was posted with Majhiaon police station. Recently, the police found strong evidence showing his indulgence in passing vital information to the Maoists in the area.

January 5: A CPI-Maoist senior cadre, Ashok Yadav alias Ashokji, a resident of Arwal village in the Jehanabad district, was arrested by the Special Task Force personnel near Danua village in the Giridih district. Ashokji was wanted in 13 cases of murder, arms loot and ransom. A pistol, five live cartridges, two cell phones and a diary were recovered from his possession.

January 6: Police arrested Vineeta alias Simppi, the women wing ‘area commander’ of the CPI-Maoist, from Bardari village in the Garwah district. She was wanted in 22 murder cases and 37 cases of encounter with the police. During her interrogation, Vineeta reportedly admitted that she was a part of the CPI-Maoist squad, which had planted a landmine which killed six police personnel at Saro valley in the district on September 12, 2007 and looted 185 rifles from a police barrack in Giridih on July 14, 2007.

January 8: Around 200 armed CPI-Maoist cadres raided Muktma village under Simaria police station in the Chatra district and abducted three persons. Subsequently, two of the abducted persons were killed in a nearby forest area while the third one was released.

Jharkhand Police indicates that the CPI-Maoist unit in the state recently gave compensation to families of their cadres who died during the anti-Maoist operations by the police. The families of some of the cadres killed in the Latehar and Chatra areas were the first beneficiaries of the scheme. Jharkhand Police spokesperson, R K Mallik, confirmed the introduction of compensation by Maoists. In some cases, the Maoists have also taken over the responsibility of school-going children of their dead cadres, he said.

January 10: Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) cadres, splinter group of the CPI-Maoist, shot dead a civilian, identified as Revalal Yadav in the Latehar district. Police recovered the dead body from the Balumathon-Murpa road.

January 12: Three CPI-Maoist cadres, including a ‘zonal commander’ of the CPI-Maoist, Mahendra Karwa, were killed in a three hour gun battle with security forces in Chainpur hills of the Palamau district. The gunfight took place when patrolling Jharkhand police and CRPF personnel spotted 10 Maoists on January 11-night. Two rifles, live cartridges and explosives were recovered from the slain cadres.

February 5: The Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT) has ordered villagers not to sell or consume liquor. The JLT, which is active in the Ranchi, Khuti, Simdega and Gumla disricts of the state issued posters and pamphlets calling for a ban on the sale and consumption of 'Hadia' - a local brew made from rice and Mahua flower and such posters have been found in villages of Khuti and Simdega districts. "If anyone is found selling or consuming Hadia, he will be suitably punished. The consumption of Hadia has destroyed many families. This will not be accepted", the posters read. The posters also directed the school teachers not to remain absent from the schools. "Teachers found absent during school hours will not be spared. JLT will not tolerate students returning to their homes because of absent teachers", the posters read.

February 8: Two CRPF personnel were killed and four others injured during an encounter with cadres of the CPI-Maoist in Giridih district. The encounter followed an ambush by the Maoists on a police patrol in the Madhuban forest area and it reportedly continued for over 12 hours. Police sources claimed that over a dozen Maoists were killed, but their colleagues managed to take away the bodies. Maoists also triggered seven landmine blasts during the encounter.

February 12: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decided to despatch five companies of para-military forces (600 personnel) to Jharkhand to tackle the Maoist violence. The decision followed a meeting between the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil with senior officials of Jharkhand. He also advised the State Government to use the para-military forces for operational purposes and not for normal law and order or static duties.

February 14: Seven CPI-Maoist cadres, including Vikash, an accused in the killing of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Member of Parliament Sunil Mahto, were killed in an encounter with security forces at Phuljore in the East Singhbhum district. Deputy Inspector General of Police Manoj Mishra stated that two women cadres were among the slain Maoists. The encounter followed an exchange of fire between the Maoists and the Nagarik Suraksha Samiti (NSS), a vigilance organisation formed by villagers with support of the district police, in which two Maoists were killed. When a joint team of the CRPF and local police personnel rushed to the area to assist the NSS, an encounter took place with the Maoists in which five extremists were killed. Eight weapons and some live cartridges were recovered from the encounter site.

February 19: The CPI-Maoist called a 24-hour State-wide strike on February 21 against the killing of seven of its cadres on February 14.

February 21: Around 2500 cartridges were recovered by a joint team of the Bokaro district police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel from Jhumara hill under Gomia police station limits. Bokaro district Superintendent of Police, Priya Dubey, told reporters that the Jhumara hills continue to remain a strong foothold of the Maoists in the State.

February 22: The Bokaro district police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from Mangra Togri forest of the Jhumra hillocks in the Bokaro district. The arms and ammunition recovered included, three rifles, 12 kilograms of explosives, 135 detonators, eight hand grenades, nine improvised explosive device (IED) electronic circuits, two battery circuits, two wireless sets, VHF set, two walkie-talkies, a map of united Bihar, dozens of police and military jerseys and Maoist literature.

February 23: Two cadres of the CPI-Maoist, including a self-styled ‘zonal commander’, were killed by the security forces at Dhenkua in the Garwah district.

February 25: A ‘sub-zonal commander’ of the CPI-Maoist was killed in an encounter with the police while another ‘sub-zonal ‘commander’ of the outfit was arrested at Madanpur village in the Palamau district. The incident occurred after the Maoists opened fire on a police patrolling party.

February 28: The CPI-Maoist cadres attacked three strategic positions of the Jharkhand Police - Netarhat police station, Special Task Force camp at Vivah Mandap and Jharkhand Armed Police camp - in the Netarhat forest area of Latehar district. However, no loss of life or injury was reported. "No one sustained injury in the incident as the rebels fled under the cover of darkness," police spokesperson R.K. Mallick said. "Around 500 rebels attacked to loot arms and ammunition," an unnamed police officer said. "While the rebels fired 800 rounds on the camps, we fired 500 rounds on them in the two-hour face-off," said another police official at Netarhat.

In a joint operation, the Bokaro district police and CRPF personnel recovered a cache of arms and ammunition hidden in the Jhumda hill near Simrabera. The seizure included three bombs, two grenades, three automatic guns, 100 rounds of ammunition and three kilograms of explosives.

March 5: Police destroyed large amounts of poppy cultivation allegedly grown by the CPI-Maoist in the Ghaghra area of Gumla district. "It cannot be said very clearly, but of late, cases of opium farming have come from the militancy-hit areas. It cannot be denied that it is the rebels who benefit from opium plantations," said Vinod Kumar, Station House Officer in Ghaghra-Gumla station.

March 10: Police recovered around 22 kilograms of explosives and 11 live cartridges of 315 bore, seven detonators, two flash guns, one rifle and Maoist literature from Kumrahi forest area during an anti-Maoist operation in the Latehar district. The Director General of Police V. D. Ram confirming the recovery said, "We have recovered explosives and arms and ammunitions besides Maoist literatures while carrying out Operation Guard under Manika Police Station in Latehar."

The CPI-Maoist cadres attacked three Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) personnel using chilly powder at Chowka under Chandil police station jurisdiction in the Seraikela-Kharsawan district and snatched two INSAS and one self-loading rifle from them. The extremists then reportedly fled into the forests in Dinai hills near Urmal, about five kilometers from Chowka police station, where an exchange of fire between the police and extremists was reported.

March 19: Manoj Tiwari, a trooper of the Special Task Force (STF), was killed in an encounter with JLT cadres at Karra in the Khunti district. The STF was conducting an operation against the JLT in the Bilsiring forests when Tiwari suffered bullet wounds and later succumbed to his injuries. Police claimed that a JLT cadre too was killed during the operation, but his body could not be recovered.

March 24: A woman leader and 12 of her accomplices belonging to the JLT were arrested at Saldaga village in the Simdega district. District Superintendent of Police Deo Behari Sharma said that the woman, identified as Radha Devi, and her accomplices were active in the Khunti and Simdega districts. They were hiding at the Saldega village after committing a murder at Kairbera village.

Extremists of the Jharkhand Prastuti Committee (JPC), a breakaway group of the CPI-Maoist, who had called a State-wide bandh against alleged police atrocities, set ablaze seven trucks at Demotand and Bendi in the Hazaribagh district. They also opened fire at several buses and trucks near Demotand on the National Highway-33.

April 1: Joint teams of the Jharkhand Police and the CRPF personnel in an encounter killed eight CPI-Maoist cadres, including a woman and a ‘sub zonal commander’ of the outfit, at Bandu village under Ranka Police Station in the Garhwa district. The Director General of Police (DGP), V. D. Ram, told, "We had received a tip off about the movement of Maoists. One SLR, four 303 rifles, three 315 rifles, one sten-gun, one DBBL gun, one country made revolver and large number of live cartridges besides naxal literatures and belongings of the Maoists were recovered." Of the eight slain Maoists, one was identified as Basant Yadav, a ‘sub-zonal commander’, while two others are suspected to be Rajesh Paswan and Lallan Thakur, both ‘area commanders’.

Security forces also recovered 80 landmines planted on a 1.5-2 kilometre stretch of road in the forest area between DTPS and Nawadih police stations in Bokaro during a subsequent operation. The DGP said the recovery of landmines was the biggest in Jharkhand.

CPI-Maoist cadres killed four civilians at Poradih-Chenpur village in the Khunti district. Dead bodies of the victims whose throats were slit were recovered on April 2. A hand-written note left behind by the Maoists claimed the four persons were being ‘punished’ for indulging in robbery. The Maoists also claimed to have taken away a hand-made pistol and three motorbikes from the slain villagers.

April 2: 13 security force personnel and a two-and-a-half-year-old girl were injured in a landmine blast triggered by suspected Maoists in the Banasu village in the Hazaribagh district. The SF personnel were conducting a joint patrolling in the area, about 35-kilometres from the district headquarters.

April 3: Six TPC cadres, including ‘area commander’ Surendra Ganju, were arrested in the Ramgarh district. A special police team led by Superintendent of Police Amol Homkar, intercepted a car carrying the extremists near Topa area. Two locally-made revolvers, cartridges, two knives and an unspecified number of cellular phones were recovered from their possession.

April 5: Ranchi police arrested a suspected CPI-Maoist cadre, Jeetan Marandi, from the from Sukhdeonagar locality in the Ranchi city. The arrested Maoist is suspected to have led an attack in October 2007 that led to the killing of 19 people, including the son of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi.

April 8: Nine persons were killed and two others injured when the CPI-Maoist cadres fired on a vehicle and subsequently set it ablaze in the Semra forest area under Palkot police station of Gumla district. Among the victims were Bhado Singh, a member of Shanti Sena (Peace Force), a police backed resistance force, and his family members. Singh and his family members were proceeding to Palkot from Bhagina village.

April 14: A group of five CPI-Maoist cadres killed the brother of a civil contractor at Bamnatora village in the East Singhbhum district. The contractor, Bholanath Mohanty, was not present at the site of an under-construction check-dam when the Maoists were looking for him. Not finding him, Maoists killed his brother, Sashinath, who was supervising the construction work.

April 16: The CPI-Maoist cadres blew up a two-metre stretch of railway track between Hazaribagh Road and Parasnath railway stations in the Giridih district. The blast affected rail traffic in the Grand Chord section of Jharkhand, the main line that connects eastern and northern India.

April 19: Two civilians were killed as CPI-Maoist cadres opened fire on moving trucks at Karamdih under Chandil police station in the Saraikela-Kharswan district. The outfit had called for a 24-hour general strike in Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal in protest against price rise. Superintendent of Police Laxman Prasad Singh said that a group of 15 Maoists fired at the trucks plying on the Tata-Ranchi highway killing two persons aboard two separate trucks. Another truck fell into a roadside ditch after its driver, in an attempt to escape the gunfire, lost control over the vehicle. The Maoists subsequently set ablaze the truck.

April 23: 11 persons engaged by a private contractor for construction work in the Koderma-Hazaribagh railway line were assaulted by the JLT cadres at Mahagona in the Hazaribagh district. The JLT cadres also destroyed the construction material and set fire to the compressor machine and road rollers.

April 26: Three policemen and two CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter in Dumka.

Two Maoists were arrested during a combing operation near Parasnath in the Giridih district. A landmine and some detonators were recovered from the Maoists, identified as Manoj Chaudhary and H. Singh. The duo was involved in several extremist activities, including looting of police weapons in Madhupur.

April 27: Five CPI-Maoist cadres were killed during an encounter with the security forces near the Dilwa railway station. Police sources said that a group of 100 Maoists were planning to blow up the nearby Koderma railway station when the SFs intervened, leading to the encounter. The SF personnel recovered an unspecified number of rifles and cartridges from the incident site.

April 28: A group of armed CPI-Maoist cadres killed a civilian in the Dolh Gaon village of the Garwah district branding him a police informer.

A group of Maoists set ablaze five houses in the Nathpur village of Gumla district. The Superintendent of Police, Baljeet Singh, said that the Maoist action followed after the villagers allegedly continued to give shelter to one Manoj Yadav, who snapped links with the CPI-Maoist to join the JLT a month ago. Household articles of four of the five houses were destroyed in the fire.

April 29: CPI-Maoist cadres triggered an explosion damaging an under-construction Government building at Madhuban in the Giridih district. A group of 20 Maoists reportedly reached the vacant building site and packed it with explosives before triggering the blast. In February 2007, the same building being built for the tourists by the Government had been destroyed by the militants.

April 30: Seven claymore mines and three landmines were recovered during a search operation launched jointly by the Police and Central Reserve Police Force at Sarju Ghati under Garu police station in the Latehar district.

May 7: A wireless supervisor of the police was killed and three other police personnel were wounded in an attack by the CPI-Maoist cadres at Holong Ghati near Hazaribagh. The Hazaribagh district Superintendent of Police told that a vehicle carrying five police personnel from Giridih was attacked by a group of 50 Maoists, who opened fire and lobbed explosives targeting the vehicle, thus, killing the police wireless officer Oliver Purti. Later, the Maoists blocked the Hazaribagh-Dhanbad road via Bishnugarh and Bagodar on National Highway (NH) No. 100 resulting in a traffic jam for six hours on the route.

May 10: Bokaro Superintendent of Police (SP) Priya Dubey survived a Maoist bomb attack on her convoy while on a midnight anti-Maoist mission. The SP’s convoy was ambushed while going to a village bordering Vishnugarh in the Hazaribagh district where the Maoists had taken shelter for the past few days. No injury was reported among the police personnel.

May 11: The officer in charge of Charhi police station and a CRPF trooper were killed and three security force personnel were injured during an encounter with the CPI-Maoist cadres in the Dahudaag forest area of Charhi of Hazaribag district. A mortar fired by the SFs hit a house in a nearby village injuring a seven-year-old girl and four other villagers.

Police arrested a senior CPI-Maoist leader Pramod Mishra from Dhanbad. The arrested Maoist is a member of the outfit’s Politburo.

May 15: Three women CPI-Maoist cadres were arrested following an encounter in the Chatra district. The Superintendent of Police, Akhilesh Kumar Jha, said that a ‘firing squad’ of the CPI-Maoist confronted security forces at Gheighat village in the Chatra district and both sides exchanged fire for half an hour. He also said, "some Maoists fled the area following the strong retaliatory action, but three women extremists of the firing squad were overpowered and apprehended along with two rifles, 42 bullets and INR 10,000 in cash."

May 17: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, identified as Mahadeo Sahu, President of Senah block (administrative division), was killed by the CPI-Maoist cadres in the Lohardagga district. The BJP leader was abducted by the Maoists along with and two others on May 16-night. While the Maoists released the other two, they killed Sahu and left pamphlets at the spot alleging that he was a Police informer.

May 18: A huge cache of ammunition suspected to belong to the left-wing extremists, including 25 detonators, 17 electronic detonators, two hand grenades, cartridges of .303 rifle ignition sets, dozens of charger clips and safety fuses, wires and other equipment, were recovered from Suarkatwa on the Jhumra hills in the Bokaro district. A source of the Central Reserve Police Force which participated in the raid along with the Bokaro district police said that a stove, foreign literature on how to attack military camps, police and military uniforms, were also found. The extremists were reported to have held a high-level meeting in the area on May 15 and 16 following the arrest of senior leader Pramod Mishra.

May 21: The CPI-Maoist cadres shot dead three persons and injured another at Kotam village in the Gumla district. The Superintendent of Police Baljit said that among the dead were two brothers, identified as Nijamul Ansari and Ajmul Ansari. A group of six Maoists opened fire on a shop owned by the brothers killing them and a customer Mahesh Mahto. Police suspect extortion could be the motive behind the attack.

Suspected Maoists looted a currency van of the ICICI bank carrying INR 50 million and one kilogram of gold near Tamar area in the capital Ranchi on May 21. The currency was being transferred from the Jamshedpur branch of the bank to Ranchi. Police said that the bank had not informed the police about its currency movement and no security was provided.

May 23: Ramashankar Mahto, a resident of Gorga village in the Dhanbad district was hacked to death by the Maoists.

May 24: Cadres of CPI-Maoist killed a Nagarik Suraksha Samity (NSS) activist, Sushen Murmu, at Mucchrisole village in the Ghatshila sub-division of Jamshedpur district. Reports said that at around 2am (IST), about 70 Maoists came to Muchhrisole village and raided Murmu’s house taking hostage his father as he was sleeping outside. Subsequently, they entered the house and dragged the 26-year-old youth to an open field and slit his throat.

May 25: Suspected CPI-Maoist cadres triggered a bomb blast near Tamar on the National Highway No. 33 between Ranchi and Jamshedpur in an abortive attempt to booby-trap police personnel patrolling the highway. No one was injured in the incident. Police personnel subsequently recovered and defused another explosive device in the area.

June 1: Four CPI-Maoist cadres, including a ‘sub-zonal commander’ and a woman extremist, were killed in an encounter with the police at Sundermahto village in the Hazaribag district. A tip off by an arrested Maoist, identified as Arjun Yadav, reportedly led to the encounter in which three Maoists and the former were killed. Police sources said that Arjun was killed while trying to escape. Police recovered two guns, one pistol and a landmine weighing 30-kilograms were recovered from the possession of the slain Maoists.

June 2: CPI-Maoist cadres killed three villagers near the capital Ranchi for allegedly collecting money in the name of the outfit. Police said the three people were abducted from Parasi village in Tamar block, around 70 kilometres from Ranchi, on June 1 and their bodies were recovered the next day from the forest area of Tamar. Pamphlets left near the bodies said, "Anyone who will extort money in the name of our organization will meet the same fate."

June 4: Three CPI-Maoist cadres were killed during an encounter with the security forces near Bhopadih village in the Chatra district. The slain Maoists include Ganesh Ganju, a ‘sub-zonal commander’ of the outfit. Police also arrested two Maoists. The encounter occurred when the Police personnel carried out a raid in the village after receiving information of a Maoist meeting there. The Maoists retaliated with gun fire when the SFs asked them to surrender. One carbine, one pistol, explosives and Maoist literature were recovered from the encounter site.

June 6: Police in the East Singhbhum district confirmed the arrest of the veteran cadre of the CPI-Maoist Tireng Kedia alias Mahabir. Mahabir, hailing from Chakaduba village in East Midnapore district of West Bengal, was arrested from Kuiani village under Patamda police station along with a country-made pistol and 16 live cartridges from him. East Singhbhum superintendent of police Naveen Kumar Singh said Mahabir was a member of the Dalma zonal committee of CPI-Maoist and used to operate in areas such as Nimdih, Patamda, Dalma and Chandil.

June 10: The 12-hour general strike call given by the CPI-Maoist in the districts bordering West Bengal passed off peacefully. The call evoked partial response in Maoist-affected areas of East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts. Long distance buses did not ply, trucks and trailers remained off the National Highway no. 33. Petrol pumps and other business establishments in Ghatshila remained closed.

June 16: CPI-Maoist cadres blew up a portion of a road bridge near Tundi between Dhanbad and Giridih, in the Dhanbad district. Maoists had called for a 24-hour general strike in the North Chottanagpur area in the State in protest against the killing of four of their activists in Hazaribagh last month. The general strike call reportedly evoked no response in Hazaribagh, Giridih and Koderma districts.

June 20: Eight wagons of a goods train were derailed and four severely damaged as People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) extremists blew up about five feet of railway tracks between two small stations, Pokla and Bakaspur in the Ranchi division of Jharkhand. The PLFI had earlier called for a 12-hour general strike in the area to protect against price rise, corruption and alleged police atrocities on extremists, the impact of which was most noticeable in Gumla, Simdega, Lohardaga, Chatra and Khunti districts. Long-distance busses remained off the roads and markets were closed in these districts. State police spokesperson and deputy inspector-general of police Raj Kumar Mallik said that the PLFI had only a marginal presence in some parts of the state and had joined hands with the Jharkhand Liberation Tigers to gain strength.

June 21: Two persons, identified as Pankaj Singh alias Pintu and Bhuvaneshwar Ganjhu, were taken hostage and subsequently killed in an attack by around 70 CPI-Maoist on a school classroom, a cluster resource centre and four rooms of a Jain dharamsala at Vashisth Nagar in the Chatra district. The Maoists also left pamphlets on the spot labelling the victims as police informers and warning others of similar consequences. The dharamsala’s caretaker, Nemichand Jain, was also assaulted.

June 23: Ranchi Police arrested three JLT cadres and also recovered four rifles, one revolver and 300 live cartridges from them.

June 26: The Jharkhand Police arrested five CPI-Maoist cadres from the districts of Ranchi and Palamau. Four members of Maoists were arrested from Parastoli area of Ranchi district. "We have arrested four Maoist rebels on a tip off. The arrested rebels were involved in spreading of the organization in the city and rural areas of the state," M.S. Bhatia, Senior Superintendent of Police of Ranchi, told. The police also seized three revolvers, three mobile phones, Maoist literature and INR 50,000 in cash from the arrestees. One more Maoist was arrested from Manatu block of Palamau district with INR 170,000 allegedly extorted from a contractor.

June 30: A Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and four constables were killed in a landmine blast triggered by suspected CPI-Maoist cadres at Pundigiri village in the Bundu area, 50-kilometres from State capital Ranchi. While the DSP and two constables were killed on the spot, two others succumbed to injuries when they were being shifted to the hospital. Another critically injured police personnel was admitted to the hospital. The police personnel were returning to the headquarters after conducting raids in the Bundu area. Jharkhand police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) RK Mallik said, "The Maoists had planted a landmine on the return route of the police party and set it off when the vehicle passed through that point."

July 1: Maoists blocked the Hazaribag-Bagodar NH-100 for three hours asking drivers and shop keepers to support the shutdown.

July 2: CPI-Maoist opened fire on a truck at Topchanchi in the Dhanbad district injuring the driver. Dhanbad Superintendent of Police Sheetal Oraon said that the Maoists also fired on another truck carrying livestock in the same area resulting in its engine catching fire. The driver and the livestock were unharmed.

Passenger trains on the Barkakana-Garwah road route under Dhanbad division were cancelled as a precautionary measure keeping in view the country-wide general strike call given by the Maoists. Goods train on the route were running with police escort, the sources added. The strike call evoked partial response in the Maoist-pockets of Hazaribag, Chatra, Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega, Palamau and Latehar districts.

Police arrested CPI-Maoist ‘zonal commander’ Manoj Nagesia with his six associates at Gumla and recovered 100 detonators, two can bombs, two rifles, SLR and ammunition. Police sources said Nagesia is associated with more than 35 cases of loot and robbery registered at Gumla and Simdega districts.

An exchange of fire between the Maoists and Police personnel was reported from at Muchadih in Giridih district. Maoists blew up a community building at Pipra village in the Palamau district. No one was injured in the incident.

July 5: An extremist belonging to the PLFI was killed and three persons, including a CRPF inspector, were injured in an encounter between security force personnel and PLFI cadres at an unspecified village in the Khunti district. Two more PLFI cadres were arrested. The extremists had converged at the village when the SF personnel carried out the raid, leading ton an encounter that witnessed exchange of 300 rounds of ammunition. Two 9mm pistols, two rifles, an explosive object and several rounds of ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

July 6: CPI-Maoist cadres killed two persons in the Latehar district branding them as police informers. According to the police, both people were abducted on July 5 night from a nearby village and were shot dead near Demo railway station. In a pamphlet left near the bodies, the CPI-Maoist owned responsibility for the killing.

Bihar

January 1: At least four policemen were killed and another sustained injuries in an attack by the CPI-Maoist cadres on Bariapur police post in the Munger district. More than 100 Maoists attacked the police post, which was keeping a vigil over a picnic spot in Rishikund, where hundreds of people had gathered to celebrate the New Year. According to sources, the Maoists did not disturb the tourists and opened indiscriminate fire on policemen killing four on the spot.

January 5: 12 prisoners and the chief warden of the Sasaram divisional jail in Rohtas district were injured in a clash between a group of Maoist prisoners and other inmates. Jail Superintendent Sanjay Choudhary said that the Maoist prisoners alleged that ailing members of their group were treated in cells while others were treated in the jail hospital and one of the Maoists died recently as a result of the neglect. He said that the Maoists picked up a quarrel with other jail inmates alleging "discrimination" meted to their colleagues in treatment

January 6: The CPI-Maoist cadres shot dead Naresh Das, the husband of Pancha Devi, village head of Nazari panchayat (village level local administration body) under Lakhmipur block in the Jamui district. Police claimed that the Maoists killed Das because he had refused to pay them protection money.

January 9: TPC cadres attacked Bairiya village under Mali police station of Aurangabad district -night and set the house of Satyendra Singh ablaze. Dozens of TPC cadres surrounded the village and searched for Satyendra Singh. Not finding him, they asked the members of his house to come out before setting it ablaze. They also set ablaze paddy crops stored in his field. Sources said that the Satyendra Singh a former PWG cadre had joined the CPI-Maoist.

January 13: Police claimed to have killed six cadres of the CPI-Maoist in an encounter at Bangudwa Naktaia hills in the Gaya district. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Balram Kumar Choudhry, said that dead bodies of the slain Maoists could not be recovered from the encounter site as these were taken away by their colleagues. The encounter is reported to have occurred following a police raid on a Maoist hideout. The encircled Maoists, instead of laying down their arms, opened fire on the raiding party forcing the police to return fire in which six Maoists were killed.

A team of the Gaya district police and Maoists numbering several dozens exchanged heavy fire near Domchuan village on the Bihar-Jharkhand border. Gaya Superintendent of Police Amit Jain said that as the police team reached an area close to Domchuan village following a tip-off that a large number of heavily armed Maoists had congregated, Maoists opened fire from sophisticated weapons, including LMGs. Jain also stated that at least two Maoists were injured in the exchange of fire but were carried away by their comrades.

January 21: Armed CPI-Maoist cadres set ablaze four tractors and a machine of a private firm engaged in the construction of the building of Piro railway station in Bihar's Bhojpur district. Non-payment of money demanded by the Maoists from the firm management is suspected to be the reason behind the attack, police sources said.

January 27: A cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from a CPI-Maoist hideout in the Gaya district during a raid. The hideout was located near a forest under Fatehpur block in Gaya, around 100 kilometres from State capital Patna. However, no arrests were made.

January 29: CPI-Maoist cadres dragged out two businessmen from their houses and shot them dead in the Jamui district of Bihar. The victims, identified as Vishnudeo and Sukdeo, were killed on January 28-night at Bamdah Bazaar under Chandramandi police station in Jamui, about 150 km from the State capital Patna. "Over 100 armed Maoists stormed Bamdah Bazaar locality and surrounded the houses of Vishnudeo and Sukdeo. They were then dragged out and shot dead," the police said. Jamui, which is located close to the border with Jharkhand, is considered to be a stronghold of the CPI-Maoist.

January 30: CPI-Maoist cadres detonated a dynamite destroying a Forest department rest house at Sonarwa village in Kharagpur sub-division of Munger district. They also set ablaze the furniture in the rest house. No one, however, was injured in the incident as the rest house was lying abandoned.

February 13: An encounter between cadres of the CPI-Maoist and police personnel lasting over five hours was reported from Chouraha village in the Gaya district. Further details of the encounter were not available.

Police claimed to have recovered a cache of arms and ammunition from cadres of the CPI-Maoist following an encounter with them at Jhalar village in Gaya district on the Bihar-Jharkhand border. Amit Kumar Jain, the Superintendent of Police, told, "We have recovered two regular police rifles, about 54 live rounds in a charger and magazines." He also said that the Maoists had escaped from the encounter site and a search was under way to find them.

February 19: A joint team of police and excise department officials destroyed poppy crops allegedly grown by the CPI-Maoist in the Imamganj police station area of Gaya district. "We have destroyed the crops grown on 24 acres of land under Imamganj police station area," Omprakash Singh, a senior excise department official said. Imamganj and its adjoining areas in Gaya are considered as strongholds of the CPI-Maoist. Singh further said that the extremists cultivate poppy to fund their illegal activities.

February 21: Suspected CPI-Maoist cadres shot dead three farmers at Pipra village under the jurisdiction of the Darpa police Station in the East Champaran district. Heavily armed Maoists attacked the village around midnight and shot dead three persons said to be farmers, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) A. K. Singh said. However, Times of India quoted the Raxaul DSP Santosh Kumar Gupta as saying that it was not a Maoist attack, rather it was the result of the clash between Community Party of India- Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) and the late landlord's Harendra Singh’s henchmen. The report said that the deceased, identified as Pandit (60), Mahendra Ray (36) and Ram Ekbal Majhi (40), all of Pipara village, were activists of the CPI-ML and were gunned down by an armed group of 25 persons at around 10pm (IST) on February 21 while they were sitting around a bonfire. The family members of the three CPI-ML men alleged that the killers were henchmen of late Harendra Singh, a landlord of the area.

The-24 hour bandh (general strike) called by the CPI-Maoist in Jharkhand partially affected train movement particularly in the Dhanbad, Mughalsarai and Danapur divisions of the East Central Railway (ECR). Movement of several passenger trains was cancelled due to the bandh as a precautionary measure. However, no untoward incident has been reported from any part of ECR divisions. The strike in Jharkhand was peaceful but it affected business and other activities in the rural areas.

February 22: Two villagers were killed in a shootout with armed cadres of the CPI-Maoist who raided a village in the Khagaria district. Three to four Maoists were reportedly injured in the incident.

February 23: Police arrested seven cadres of the CPI-Maoist from a van near Makhor village under Akbarpur police station of the Nawada district. According to the Inspector General of Police (Operations), S K Bharadwaj 40,000 gelatin sticks, 8,640 detonators and 23 bundles of high explosive wires, were recovered from a truck travelling along with the van. Those arrested confessed before the police that the consignment was on way from Guna in Madhya Pradesh to Maoist groups active in Sheikhpura, Jamui, Lakhisarai and Munger districts of Bihar.

The Jamui district police arrested an ‘area commander’ of the CPI-Maoist, identified as Sanjay Hembrom, from Chandramandi police station area. Sanjay was involved in the Chilkaridih massacre that claimed 20 lives, including that of Anup Marandi, youngest son of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha Prajatantrik party chief and former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Babulal Marandi, on October 28, 2007.

February 26: An engineer, identified as Sanjay Singh and a supervisor, identified as Dharmendra Singh, of a Jharkhand-based Vijeta Construction Company were abducted by armed cadres of the CPI-Maoist who raided their camp office at Chhotki Chenari under the Sheosagar police station of Rohtas district. The Construction Company was engaged in the construction of Shivsagar-Chenari road in the district. According to police sources, the company received a ransom call from the abductors for safe release of the officials.

A zonal ‘commander’ of the CPI-Maoist, identified as Nandu Mahato (carrying head money of INR 25000) was arrested from a hideout at Chauhuar village in the Gaya district. Police said that he was involved in several incidents of murder and abduction in the district.

February 28: An engineer and a supervisor of a private road construction company abducted by the CPI-Maoist in Rohtas district on February 26-night from their camp office at Chhotki Chenari, were rescued from Belao village in the neighbouring Kaimur district. The Additional Superintendent of Police, P Kannan, told that four persons were detained for interrogation. The Maoists had abducted the duo after the company refused to pay extortion demanded by the outfit.

February 29: An ‘area commander’ of the CPI-Maoist , identified as Basudev, surrendered at Banke Bazaar police station in the Gaya district along with one automatic rifle, one regular rifle and large number of cartridges. Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Jain stated that Basudev was involved in several incidents of murder and criminal activities in the district.

March 9: A joint team comprising CRPF and Special Task Force (STF) personnel raided Akurauni forest area in the Gaya district and neutralised a bunker of the CPI-Maoist. The raid was conducted on the basis of information provided by the Maoist leader Chandu Das who was arrested from Jhallar village in the district in the early hours on the same day. The team found a big water container inside the bunker and seized arms and 10,000 rounds of ammunition of several regular weapons, including INSAS rifles, 100 magazines of carbines and more than 100 hand grenades, said Superintendent of Police Amit Jain. Hundreds of police uniforms, hand grenade-making equipments, one .9mm pistol and regular rifles were also recovered from the bunker. A suspected Maoist was arrested during the search.

March 10: The Gaya police arrested Karoo Yadav, an ‘area commander’ of the CPI-Maoist from Ithari village under the Mohanpur police station area. Superintendent of Police, Amit Jain said that Karoo was involved in an encounter between the Maoists and the police in Mohanpur area. On the basis of information provided by Karoo Yadav, the police raided Ragrej village under Bodh Gaya police station and recovered two police rifles, from the possession of one Janardan Ravidas who was later arrested by police. The rifles were earlier looted by the extremists in one of its dozens of operations against the police in Bihar and Jharkhand.

March 13: 16 CPI-Maoist cadres surrendered to the police in Muzaffarpur. Of those who surrendered, five were wanted in several criminal cases, the Muzaffarpur District Superintendent of Police Ratna Sanjay said. The Maoists also deposited over 50 kilograms of explosives, six detonators, two landmines, seven pistols, four rifles, two guns and several rounds of ammunition.

March 26: The CPI-Maoist cadres killed a leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in the Pakhtaul village of Begusarai district. The leader identified as Ram Pukar Mahto was a member of the Begusarai district committee of the CPI-M.

March 28: Two security force personnel were injured and 18 CPI-Maoist cadres, including six women, were arrested following an encounter at Saraunja village under Birpur police station area in the Begusarai district. District Superintendent of Police Amit Lodha told "A constable of Bihar Military Police (BMP) 7th battalion Harendra Kumar Rai and Ganesh Rai of Special Auxiliary Police (SAP), a force comprising ex-servicemen raised to tackle Naxalite violence, were injured in the gunfight". Four country-made rifles, a musket, a revolver, a pistol, a crude bomb, more than 100 bullets and several police uniforms were recovered from the possession of the arrested Maoists.

April 2: Over 200 CPI-Maoist cadres attacked the house of a member of the State Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Kala Pahar village of Aurangabad district. They set ablaze three vehicles being used by the MLA’s construction company and abducted four labourers. The MLA, Vijay Kumar Singh alias Dabloo Singh of the Lok Janshakti Party, was not present at his residence during the attack. Police suspect that the Maoist attack is linked to an extortion demand on the construction company.

April 4: Suspected CPI-Maoist cadres abducted three employees of a private contractor engaged in road construction in the Maheshwari village of Jamui district for not paying extortion amount. Contractor Pawan Kumar Singh said that the Maoists had demanded levy for continuation of road construction work and threatened him with dire consequences unless the amount was paid.

April 10: CPI-Maoist cadres killed six persons belonging to the Sashastra People’s Morcha (SSM) in the Tardih forest of Rohtas district. The slain persons, natives of Barachatti and Mohanpur blocks of Gaya district, were former members of the CPI-Maoist and had formed the SSM to assist the police. Maoist pamphlets charging the slain persons with "betraying the parent organisation and serving as police informers", were found at the incident site.

April 13: Six persons, including five security force personnel and a porter, were killed in an attack by the CPI-Maoist cadres at Jhajha railway station in the Jamui district. A group of 200 Maoists attacked the crowded railway station, and looted 27 3.15 rifles, six self-loading rifles, two carbines and 898 rounds of ammunition from the GRP armoury. The Maoists also damaged an ATM of the State Bank of India in an attempt to loot cash, but had failed. They had also made an unsuccessful attempt to loot cash from a locker in the railway station.

April 14: Police arrested two suspected CPI-Maoist cadres, including a woman, who had taken part in the April 13 attack on the Jhajha railway station in the Jamui district.

April 17: The CPI-Maoist cadres blew up a railway track near Nathganj railway station on Gaya-Kodrama rail section. The blast affected rail traffic for over six hours. Maoists also abducted six railway staff but released them later.

April 18: The CPI-Maoist cadres blew up a petrol station at Kahudag on National Highway-II in the Gaya district. According to police sources, over 200 heavily armed Maoists attacked the petrol station, belonging to the former Gaya district board chairman Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav, and abducted its two employees. Later they triggered a dynamite blast, blowing up the pump equipment and the building. Both the employees were released after the blast.

April 27: Armed CPI-Maoist cadres killed a civilian, working for a contractor who was assigned the job of mining sand close to the embankment of a river, near Roshan Ganj police station in the Gaya district. Police sources said that the contractor had been asked by the Maoists to stop collecting royalty from the people and he had not obeyed the diktat.

April 29: The CPI-Maoist cadres destroyed houses of four persons whom they described as police informers in the Nawada district. Police sources said that an armed squad of nearly 200 Maoists raided Jamunia village and asked the occupants of the four houses to come out before using dynamites to destroy the houses.

April 30: A fast track court in the capital Patna framed charges against the senior CPI-Maoist leader Ajay Kanu and five others for their alleged involvement in the killing of a policeman in 2002 at Kandak village in Patna rural district.

May 4: Giving into the diktat of Maoists, 64 activists of the ruling Janata Dal-United and Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in the Is