The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : Suspected Maoists planned guerrilla force

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 25, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Suspected Maoists planned guerrilla force

S. Vijay Kumar

Their agenda was to make Varusanadu hill a ‘liberated zone’ with the support of locals, particularly Dalits and tribals

MADURAI: The five suspected Maoists arrested in the Varusanadu hill planned to form a guerrilla force by inducting like-minded youth in villages abutting the forests in Theni, Dindigul and Madurai districts.

Their agenda was to make Varusanadu hill a ‘liberated zone’ with the support of locals, particularly Dalits and tribals.

According to police sources, the suspects, who camped for weeks along the Western Ghats, distributed a six-page booklet detailing the Maoist ideology to villagers. While addressing groups of people to explain their way of achieving equality and economic and social independence, they also gathered inputs on affluent families, mostly industrialists, landlords and businessmen, residing in Dindigul, Theni and Virudhunagar districts.

Meetings held

Calling for an “armed conflict” in the Varusanadu area, the cadre used to meet regularly at public places in Madurai and Theni to discuss their operations with sympathisers, the sources said.

When this information was passed on by a woman to the Special Branch police, Theni Superintendent of Police R. Sudhakar formed a team that penetrated the tribal community and camped in the villages. Police personnel in the guise of shepherds, farmers and tribals montitored the movement of the armed cadre before launching an operation, along with the Special Task Force, to apprehend them.

The ‘Q’ Branch who took over investigation in the case pertaining to the arrest of five suspected Maoists on Monday filed a petition seeking custodial interrogation of two suspects.

Commando training

As per the directions of Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), K. Vijay Kumar, a few batches of Theni district police personnel would be trained in commando operations by the STF in Varusanadu hill and its adjoining areas.

“This will also ensure continued presence of police in the locality. Our surveillance mechanism has been strengthened,” Mr. Sudhakar said.

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