For the first time since its launch in May 2005, Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) gunned down a naxal while on a combing operation on Wednesday. The unit was set up during Dharam Singh’s tenure as chief minister.
With the death of the naxal on Wednesday in Subrahmanya, the toll in undivided district reached seven.
In early 2000, leaders of state unit of Communist Party of India (M) shifted their base to Western Ghats following a series of arrest of its leading cadre in Kolar region. The movement gained popularity as they begun championing against the forced eviction of forest dwellers residing in Kudremukh National Park (notified in 1987).
The movement suffered its first setback with the death of two senior women members, Parvathi and Hajima. Both were killed during an encounter in Eedu, a village near Karkala in Udupi district in 2003. But naxalism continued to thrive as successive government resorted to ad-hoc measures to tackle the problem.
The influence of armed struggle on members of indigenous tribals, Malekudiyas, was exposed when Dinakar Gowda of Kuthloor in Beltangady taluk was shot dead during an encounter with police in Kigga in Sringeri taluk. Gowda was the first naxalite from Dakshina Kannada district to be gunned down by the police.
In 2010, his brother-in-law Vasanth Gowda too was killed in an encounter at Varanga in Karkala taluk. After a lull, the seventh naxalite was gunned in a fierce exchange of fire, three kms from Kalkunda where they were first spotted on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Anti-Naxal Force Inspector General of Police Alok Kumar said the combing operation involving as many as five teams would continue in Baginamale- Cheru reserve forest area near Subrahmanya. Briefing reporters on the operation that left one naxal dead on Wednesday, he said, “Within five days we were able to shoot down a naxalite. (Since) The encounter took place around 9 pm on Tuesday. Other naxals in the team, about four to five members escaped under the cover of darkness.”
The encounter took place at Bagina male reserved forest near Cheru and Chowdamma Gudi area. None of the members in Anti-Naxal Force team sustained any injury during the operation, the IGP said.
“The naxals had been living in a tent for many days in the forest,” he informed. Two men were leading in the front and three others were tailing behind, he said while explaining the movement of naxals during the encounter.
On Wednesday, the police faced heavy downpour and leeches in the forest. Knowing well that naxals had run into a blind alley in the forest, Kumar said the combing operation will continue.
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