Maharashtra (Maoist Insurgency): Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2018

A Quick Response Team (QRT) of the Gadchiroli Police killed a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadre in an encounter in Tadapalli forest area in Gadchiroli District on January 10, reports Business Standard. "The incident took place between 4.30 PM to 5 PM when the QRT team was conducting a combing operation in the Tadapalli forest area," the Gadchiroli Police said in a release issued on January 11. It said the Maoists opened fire on troopers who retaliated. The QRT found the body of the Maoist when they conducted a search operation after the rebels fled the spot. Police also recovered a 0.303 rifle and four cartridges from the spot. "The deceased Maoist is yet to be identified," the release added. Read less...

The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra Police arrested seven Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres identified as Ajay Dosri alias Krishna Lingaya alias Venugopal (40), Shankarayya, Babushankar Banguri, Narsayya, Ravi Marpalli, Ramesh Golala and Satyanarayan alias Sataya from various places in Thane District, on January 12, reports Asian Age. ATS officials received a tip-off that one of the key members of CPI-Maoist would arrive in Kalyan and arrested Venugopal from Kalyan railway station. Police teams were dispatched and six CPI-Maoist cadres were arrested from Vikhroli, Ghatkopar and Dombivli (east), after the interrogation of Venugopal. The Police claimed the CPI-Maoist cadres were indoctrinating youths in slum pockets and collecting finances for the Golden Corridor Committee (GCC), which includes Maharashtra and Gujarat and seized Naxal[Left Wing Extremism (LWE)] literature and documents. CPI-Maoist cadres were led by Venugopal, ‘district committee secretary (DCS)’ in CPI –Maoist, who was underground for 20 years. He was active in trade unions in Mumbai to spread CPI-Maoist ideology and carrying a reward of INR 8 00,000 announced by Telangana Government. He is booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 2008, and remanded in Police custody, said Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP (ATS) Mohan Dahikar, adds Times of India. Read less...

According to The Times of India report on January 20, senior Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres in Gadchiroli District seem to be taking their setbacks seriously, as they are now conducting analysis after every incident. It was said that the reds are also threatening villagers of adjoining hamlets of dire consequences if they are found leaking information to Security Forces (SFs). A District source claimed that senior cadres of Maoists had come to the forest of Palle in Aheri sub-division to conduct a ground-zero reality check, a couple of days ago. They were there to collect insight into the firing incident, in which one of their formations was cornered around a fortnight ago. Though there was no casualty on their side, the camp had to withdraw following mounting pressure of the C-60 [the Maharashtra Police counter-insurgency commando unit] personnel, leaving behind substantial material of daily use and also literature, which had information about their outfits and cadres involved in various activities. The rebels had also ensured that a few villagers from adjacent hamlets, like Rahpalli, Kurumpalli and also Palle, were assembled at the forest where the firing on them had taken place. The Maoist cadres, through their supporters and militias, had ensured that none of the hamlets were left unrepresented. The villagers were thoroughly quizzed by senior cadres, who tried to collect every fine details of the incident, including movement of the SFs, position of the rebels' camp that was stormed, the directions from which the SF personnel had entered the forest and such details. The Maoists also tried to pressurize the villagers to share with them possible names of ‘Police informers’ or Special Police officers (SPO) who work as volunteers for an honorarium in each village. Superintendent of Police (SP), Gadchiroli, Abhinav Deshmukh, said the Maoists are known to conduct such analysis and record them for future reference. "They mostly try to find out the police volunteers to choke our information system and also gauge our movements," he said. Read less...

A three-member action team of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) killed Irpa Usendi, cousin to Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) and ‘commander’ of Perimili Local Guerilla Squad (LGS) Sainath, at a busy weekly market in Etapalli taluka (revenue unit) in Gadchiroli District on January 31, reports The Times of India. Usendi, who was one of the accused in the case of arson at the site of Surjagarh mining project of Llyods Mining and Energy Limited when 80 vehicles were set ablaze by the Maoists on December 30, 2016. The rebels had strewn pamphlets over the body in which they had labelled him as 'Police informer'. Usendi, along with another person identified as Raja Rajasthani, worked as labour contractors at the mining site. He was initially quizzed by the Police for his role in the arson but was not arrested. In February in 2017 Usendi was arrested carrying cash INR 400,000 in a vehicle during a joint checking of Police and Revenue Department prior to the elections. After Usendi failed to explain the source of the cash, he was booked for being a conduit between the mining company representatives and the Maoists. He was later released on bail. Usendi had been under scanner of the Security Forces (SFs) as a covert Maoist sympathizer as he had a habit of flaunting his connections to the top rebel leader. Read less...