Four Naxalites, including two carrying Rs 9 lakh bounty, held in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur

Bijapur, Sep 26 (PTI) Four Naxalites, two of them carrying a collective bounty of Rs 9 lakh, were arrested from separate places in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, a police official said on Friday.

Mallesh Kunjam (40), a divisional committee member in Jagargunda area committee of Maoists, was arrested on Thursday from the forests of Polampalli village when a joint team of security personnel was out on a search operation, he said.

Personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the 210th battalion of CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), an elite unit of CRPF, were involved in the operation, he said.

Multiple cases of murder, attempt to murder, attacks on police, arson, loot, dacoity, and abduction have been registered against Kunjam at Tarrem, Pamed, Usoor, and Awapalli police stations in the district, the official said, adding that he carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh.

In another operation, a police team arrested Anil Veko (32), head of the Janatana Sarkar unit of Maoists, from Darmer village, he said.

He carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh and is accused in several Maoist incidents, including triggering IED (improvised explosive device) blasts and attacks on police teams over the last two years, he said.

In the third action, Vanjam Hunga (35) and Sodhi Nande (33) were apprehended from Polampalli village under Pamed police station limits during an anti-Naxal operation launched by the 228th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and local police, he said.

“Hunga and Nande were militia members of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) Polampalli Revolutionary People's Committee (RPC). Information provided by the duo led to the recovery of six muzzle-loading guns from the forests of Padalu near Polampalli village,” the official said.

Citing their preliminary probe, he said the two hid the firearms to supply them to the Naxalites. PTI COR TKP BNM NR