The Hindu : Karnataka News : Slain naxalites were once active in Raichur district, say police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Slain naxalites were once active in Raichur district, say police

By Our Staff Correspondent

RAICHUR, FEB. 8. The two naxalites who were shot dead in an encounter with the police in the Kallugudde forest area in Koppa taluk of Chikmagalur district on Sunday were once active in villages bordering Raichur taluk, according to the police.

One of the encounter victims, identified as Saketh Rajan, alias Prem, a top-ranking leader of the movement, is suspected to have been one among a ten-member gang of naxalites that robbed Rs. 10 lakhs and some gold ornaments from a branch of Syndicate Bank at Jawalgera village of Sindhanoor taluk in Raichur district in 1989.

Case registered

According to the Superintendent of Police, Raichur district, P. Harisekaran, Rajan was among the naxalite gang that robbed the bank at Jawalgera village. He could not be traced subsequently. The Balaganur police, who registered a case in connection with the bank robbery, had arrested five of the ten-member gang and still have a warrant against Rajan and four other members of the gang, Mr. Harisekaran said.

Shivalingaiah, who died along with Rajan in the encounter, was a native of Ginivar village in Sindhanoor taluk. He also had connections with naxalite groups in the border villages in Raichur taluk, the police said. He is survived by his parents, four brothers and three sisters. Shivalingaiah was on the run since 2001, when the police launched a massive combing operation in the border villages.

Last year, two suspected naxalites Parvathi and Hajeema were killed in an encounter with the police at Eedu village in Udupi district. Hajeema was also a native of Sindhanoor taluk. Her body was handed over to her parents, who cremated it at their native village in the taluk.

Visits villages

Mr. Harisekaran said that in the light of the encounter in Chikmagalur district, he had visited the naxalite-prone border villages in Yapaldinni police station limits in Raichur taluk, which was once a hotbed of naxalite activities. But, the movement in these border villages had died down in the past five years after the death of Bhaskar, alias Balakrishna, of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, a suspected member of People's War. He was killed in an encounter with the police at Ibrahimdoddi village in Raichur taluk in August 1999. His wife, Suma, was arrested and sent to jail, he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka