Maoist top gun Ganapati holed up in Andhra-Odisha Border area?
Sources said Odisha's security personnel have got information that Maoist top gun Ganapati alias Mallanna alias Rajanna alias Raja Reddy alias Chandra Sekhar was in Gupteswar area, which had already become a part of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) a few years ago.
The Gupteswar area connects AOB areas to the Chhattisgarh border and is a strategic spot for Maoists to cross the border of Dantewada district to enter Malkangiri district of Odisha. In fact, the Naxalites included Gupteswar in the DKSZC to ensure a hassle-free journey for top Maoist leaders crossing into Odisha from Chhattisgarh and vice versa, sources in the security forces told TOI.
After the alleged exchange of fire at multiple locations earlier this week in the Mukudipalli-Bejingi areas of Panasaput panchayat in Odisha's Malkangiri district neighbouring Visakhaptnam, where Maoists were allegedly having meetings, security personnel from Odisha have continued their combing operations in Malkangiri and Koraput with the hope of netting big leaders of the CPI (Maoist) party, including Ganapati and Basavaraju.
According to sources, armed with intelligence inputs about the possible presence of the Maoist top brass in the area, the Odisha security teams of the Border Security Force (BSF), Special Operations Group (SOG) and district voluntary forces (DVF) are carrying out extensive combing operations at Ramagiri, Gupteswar, Boipariguda, Lamataput and other areas, all strongholds of the outlawed group.
Apart from continuing combing operations, Odisha's security forces have also taken up a massive propaganda blitz about the rewards on the heads of various Maoists leaders, sources said, pointing out that the security forces have pasted posters announcing a reward of Rs 1.5 crore on Ganapati, who is allegedly roaming around in the Gupteswar area with aliases Balareddy, Anji and Srinivas, in almost all the main Maoist stronghold villages.
A senior cop involved in anti-Naxal operations told TOI that they got information that top leaders, including Ganapati, were in the Gupteswar area. "I think the Maoist chief will not venture out from Chhattisgarh in the present scenario where security forces have been carrying out massive combing operations in all the border areas. But Maoists have their own routes to enter the AOB or Chhattisgarh and vice versa," he said.
Source http://timesofindia.com/city/hyderabad/Maoist-top-gun-Ganapati-holed-up-in-Andhra-Odisha-Border-area/articleshow/45829309.cms
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