Arvindji, 150 Maoist cadres holed up in Gumla jungles

NEW DELHI: CPI (Maoist) leader Arvindji, who had got IED planted in the abdomen of CRPF jawans in the recent Latehar encounter, is cornered in the jungles of Jharkhand's Gumla district along with 150 Maoists.

Sources said, security forces have been on Arvindji's trail for over 15 days and have surrounded the area forcing him to move within the Gumla jungles. However, forces are not able to strike as there are reports of the Maoists using villagers as human shield in case an encounter takes place.

Sources said the Maoist contingent, after the Latehar encounter, was escaping to Saranda forests on the Odisha-Jharkhand border, when they were cornered in the Gumla jungles. In days to come there could be a face-off with the Maoists, sources added.

A senior official from the anti-Naxal forces engaged in the chase said, "More than a fortnight ago we received information that Arvindji along with certain other Maoist leaders and a contingent of about 150 Naxalites was moving towards Saranda through Gumla. We quickly launched an operation and have been on their trail. We have not let them move out of Gumla because of our constant raids. We are expecting an encounter in days to come."

Sources said Arvindji's contingent is constantly moving even as CRPF personnel are in hot pursuit raiding several forest villages. "He is shifting from one village to another. He is also, perhaps, getting information of our movement and hence has remained off our grip as yet. There is also information that he is holding villagers captive to use them as human shield. So we have to be careful as we do not want civilian casualties," said the official.

Maoists are known to use villagers as shields in an encounter as civilian deaths by force's bullets can be used for propaganda against state atrocities. CRPF had an encounter with Maoists in the Sarkeguda forests of Chhattisgarh last June, leading to 19 deaths. Several of these people turned out to be innocent villagers, which security agencies claimed Maoists used as human shield. The encounter put the force at receiving end of barbs from human rights activist and even its standard operating procedure had to be revised.

Arvindji continues to be a thorn in CRPF's flesh giving the force a setback in last month's Latehar encounter, where 10 security personnel were killed even as Maoists put photo-sensitive and pressure-release IEDs in the abdomens of two slain jawans in order to cause further damage to those who came to retrieve the bodies.

Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Arvindji-150-Maoist-cadres-holed-up-in-Gumla-jungles/articleshow/18523442.cms