Five killed, five injured in Maoist attacks in Gadchiroli in seven days

“A constable, Manjunath Shivlingappa of the CRPF 113 battalion, was martyred in the attack,” a press note issued by Gadchiroli police said. “Two other constables, Deepak Sharma and Lokesh Kumar, were injured,” it added.

Manjunath hailed from Managundi village in Dharwad tahsil of Karnataka. He was given a gun salute at the CRPF’s Group Centre here on Monday.

Following an encounter two hours before the attack, Naxalites had fled after police gained an upper hand, the police press note said. But apparently it may have been a Naxal

ploy. “The possibility of it being a ploy can’t be ruled out but it is more likely that it was a chance attack. Our party was divided into two groups who were reaching towards a big Naxal congregation comprising about 40 cadres, from two sides of a hill. After an encounter with one group, the Naxals decamped. The two groups were then supposed to come together at one point but the other group appeared to have been spotted by chance by the same Naxal group while they (Naxals) were running away,” said Superintendent of Police Abhinav Deshmukh.

The Naxals had carried out an IED blast just two days ago at Kotgul in Dhanora tahsil, killing a policeman and injuring two others.

On November 21 and 22, Naxals killed three alleged police informers Sunil Pawar, Jadhav Jangi and Suresh Tofa at Zadapapad, Ranwahi and Tode villages in Dhanora tahsil.

Asked if Naxals are getting resurgent, Deshmukh said, “After lying low in monsoon, the Naxals are generally in an attacking mode in this part of the year. The civilian killings are generally high in winter. And it is not that they had not been trying to attack police. The only thing is that they were not successful.”

Deshmukh also cited an important new development on the Naxal front as a possible reason for their recent advances. “We have noticed that the groups in Gadchiroli have been joined by some groups in Maad area across the border in Chhattisgarh for joint movement and augmented strength,” he said. With Sunday’s incident, the police casualties in Naxal attacks this year has gone up to three.