Days after high-profile surrenders, Maoists gun down jawan’s brother, police aspirant outside their homes in Bijapur

The killings took place at around 8 pm in a remote village named Nelakanker, 80 km from the Bijapur district headquarters.

According to security officials, a group of around 10-15 Maoists knocked on the doors of the two men, Ravi Kattam (25) and Tirupati Sodi (38). Both were asked to step out and then killed in front of their homes.

While Kattam was a police aspirant, Sodi’s brother is a jawan with the Central Reserve Police Force’s Bastariya Battalion. According to locals, Ravi used to leave the village and head to Bastar town to prepare for the police recruitment exams, which made Maoists suspicious.

The Pamed area committee of the South Bastar division of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) claimed responsibility for the murders. In the past, the banned outfit would conduct a “janata adalat” or “people’s court” before deciding to punish someone with death, but no such public meeting was conducted this time, police say.

Last year, 71 civilians were murdered or killed by IEDs planted by Maoists, while at least 41 civilians have been killed in Maoist violence so far this year.

Though security forces have managed to almost clear Maoists from Abujhmad after more than four decades, the banned outfit still has its presence in Bijapur and the neighbouring Sukma district.

Earlier this month, the Maoist movement was dealt one of its most severe blows when Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu (70), a member of the CPI (Maoist)’s Politburo, surrendered in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli alongside 60 other cadres on October 14.

Days later, as many as 170 Maoists have surrendered in Chhattisgarh. This included Takkalappalli Vasudeva Rao alias Rupesh (59), who is known as the Maoists’ bombmaker and is believed to have orchestrated the attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on December 2, 2000.

With Sonu’s surrender, the weight of the movement rests on the shoulders of Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji (62) and Madvi Hidma alias Santosh (51), both of whom have only headed the military wing of the party or the Central Military Commission (CMC).

Ridding the country of Naxalism ranks high on the Centre’s priority list. Speaking on Diwali, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that due to the valour and courage of India’s security forces, “the country is now on the verge of complete freedom from Naxal-Maoist extremism”. “Before 2014, around 125 districts were in the grip of Maoist violence. This number has now reduced to just 11, and in those 11 districts, too, there are only three districts where their influence is visible,” he said.

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