Maoists Busy Concealing Arms, Ammunitions In Bastar Forests Ahead Of March 31 Deadline To End Naxal Menace: Intel
“The Maoists belonging to the Bhairamagarh area committee were carrying arms and ammunition to conceal them in the forests”: Police
RAIPUR: Maoists are now busy concealing arms and ammunition in the forests of Bastar in Chhattisgarh with the Centre’s March 31 deadline to eradicate Leftwing Extremism drawing closer, intelligence has alerted.
Although almost all the top Maoists of Bastar barring Paparao alias Mangu, who is the secretary of South Bastar Division of Naxals, were either eliminated or neutralized (through arrests and surrenders), the remaining active rebels, mostly lower-level cadres are seen busy hiding the weapons in arms dumps in the forests, a senior police officer quoting the intelligence reports told this newspaper on Saturday, on condition of anonymity.
Based on similar intelligence inputs, security forces had launched a search operation in the forested hilly region between Gumalnar and Nalgada villages in Dantewada district under south Bastar on March five, leading to elimination of senior Maoist leader Rajesh Punem, a member of the Bhairamgarh area committee, active in Bijapur district under south Bastar, the police officer said.
Later, security forces recovered arms and ammunition including a self-loading rifle (SLR), an INSAS rifle, a pistol and explosives at the encounter site.
“The Maoists belonging to the Bhairamagarh area committee were carrying arms and ammunition to conceal them in the forests”, the police officer said.
Sources said that Maoists are now busy concealing their weapons and planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the areas of their influence before retreating as the March 31 deadline drew nearer.
“Of late, several of these arm dumps were recovered by the security forces following alerts sounded by the intelligence as well as inputs given by the surrendered Naxals”, the police officer said.
According to Bastar police data, as many as 677 weapons including sophisticated firearms were recovered from Maoists in 2025.
While 485 weapons were recovered during the encounters and Maoist arm dumps, 192 firearms were returned to the police by the surrendered Naxals during the period.
The recovered weapons included 42 AK 47 rifles, three INSAS LMGs, 39 SLR rifles, 47 INSAS rifles, seven carbines, 83 .303 rifles, five nine mm pistols, and 451 other firearms such as barrel grenade launchers (BGLs), 12 bore guns and 315 bore guns.