PLGA’s Madvi Hidma executed it: Initial report
Initial findings into the latest Chhattisgarh Naxal attack suggest CPI(Maoist) chief operational commander Nambala Keshava Rao planned the attack and the ambush was executed by People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) Battalion No. 1 Commander Madvi Hidma.
Rao carries a reward of Rs 1 crore on his head and is on the most wanted list of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Chhattisgarh Police. Rao is also known by aliases like Jaganna and Vasava Raju. He hails from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh and is wanted in several cases of ambushes and encounters against the security forces.
Apart from other cases, he is the mastermind and an accused in the killing of 15 commandos in Gadhchiroli on May 2, 2019, and the murder of TDP Araku (Andhra Pradesh) MLA K Sarveshwar Rao in September 2018 which is being probed by the NIA, officials said.
Estimates also suggest the killing of 23 security officials in Bijapur on Saturday was a reaction to the liquidation of five Naxals, including two women, in Gadhchiroli district of Maharashtra on March 29 this year by the security forces, they said.
The security agencies could not assess the impending reaction of the Gadhchiroli incident which led to a lack of coordination between the agencies as the Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) of the PLGA under the Central Military Commission of the CPI(Maoist) is underway against the security forces in their respective areas of dominance, sources said.
In a press statement issued on Monday, the banned outfit has claimed that as many as 28 “comrades” have been killed by the security forces from January 1 to April 3, which include the highest toll of 17 in Dandakaranya, Chhattisgarh, seven in Jharkhand, one each in Odisha and Telangana besides two in Madhya Pradesh.
It also claimed that as many as 100 security personnel have also been killed or injured during the period.
The outfit said these encounters between the Naxals and the security forces have happened in West Singhbhum, Bokaro, Lohardaga, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Gadhchiroli, Malkangiri and Kanker, it said.
Meanwhile, the deadly ambush against the security forces was executed despite the top officials of the CRPF including Inspector General (Operations) of CRPF, Nalin Prabhat and Special DG Zulfikar Hassan besides Adviser in the Union Home Ministry K Vijay Kumar were camping in Chhattisgarh for the last few days for the operations against the ultras. DG CRPF Kuldiep Singh had also visited the State in the run-up to the operation against the Naxals that turned out to be a trap, sources said.
Incidentally, Prabhat was DIG with CRPF who had planned an operation in 2010 in Chintalnar in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed, a figure which is the highest casualty so far for the paramilitary.
