The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Police foil major naxal attack in Orissa

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Wednesday, Dec 05, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Police foil major naxal attack in Orissa

K. Srinivas Reddy

Arrest of Misir Besra made Maoists abandon ‘Operation Bargarh’ in Sept. last

HYDERABAD: Police agencies have averted a major naxalite strike in Bargarh district of Orissa, with the arrest of a top naxalite leader in Jharkhand in September last.

Authoritative sources say that Maoists were ready to pull off a daring raid on the armoury of the Bargarh district police. However, the raid plan was apparently abandoned after the arrest of Misir Besra, a member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), by the Jharkhand police.

The newly created military intelligence wing of the Maoists is stated to have planned the ‘Operation Bargarh’ to the last detail with inputs from a three-member team which conducted a ‘recce’ of the armoury. The major assault would have certainly left the security forces red-faced and boosted the morale of the Maoists who wanted to prove their capabilities in launching attacks with the involvement of people’s militia.

Sources say that ‘Operation Bargarh’ was finalised considering the vulnerability of the district armoury ‘at any point of time’. The recce team, monitored closely by a member of the military intelligence wing, Asutosh, reported that about 300 to 500 weapons would be available in the armoury. While the surveillance of the armoury had begun in May, Asutosh was stated to have visited Bargarh in July to assess the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ of the Orissa police guarding the armoury. Based on his report, the Maoist party had allocated around Rs 20 to Rs 30 lakh for carrying out the raid. The police learnt that the surveillance team had taken shelter in villages on outskirts of Bargarh town and Asutosh himself stayed in Deogarh supervising their movements and planning out the raid.

In a similar action carried out in Koraput town of Orissa in 2004, the Maoist cadres snatched 524 weapons.However, sources said, ‘Operation Bargarh’ was dropped after the arrest of Misir Besra, a CMC member in Jharkhand. The naxal military intelligence wing is vested with responsibilities of procuring arms and ammunition, collection of information about targets, studying the strategies and tactics adopted by the security forces. Its inputs are fed to a two-member action team, which directly reports to the CMC.

On hit list

Top on the list of the Maoist targets is the former Andhra Pradesh police chief H.J. Dora, followed by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Congress MLA and Chief architect of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh, Mahendra Karma, Jharkhand former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, former Jharkhand home Minister Suresh and a senior police officer who is working in CBI now.

The action team is believed to be headed by Takkellapalli Vasudeva Rao alias Ashanna alias Sujith, a native of Andhra Pradesh.

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