The anti-naxal drive (ANF) of the Karnataka police on Tuesday gunned down senior Maoist chief Vikram Gowda throughout an encounter within the Kabbinale forests of Udupi district, the primary such operation within the southern state in 13 years, mentioned senior officers conscious of the matter.
Based on police, the encounter occurred when 5 Maoists reportedly visited a village to obtain every day provides. Performing on intelligence inputs, the drive launched an operation, leading to an change of gunfire round 1.15 am on Tuesday.
A 46-year-old Maoist, Gowda, who led the Netravati Naxal group, was killed on the spot, as 4 others escaped.
Officers mentioned police had been looking out for Gowda, a significant cog within the rebels’ operations within the state, for twenty years.
Gowda, a resident of Kabbinale village in Hebri taluk, was a outstanding determine within the Maoist motion and had been energetic in organising and main operations within the area for years.
“Vikram Gowda had been main the Naxalite operations in south India for over twenty years. He had taken shelter in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and had visited Kodagu (in Karnataka) many occasions,” an official mentioned.
After the motion, state house minister G Parameshwar informed reporters: “Impulsively they (Gowda and associates) have fired on the police. Throughout the return hearth by the police, he was killed. Two or three others who had been with him have escaped, ANF police have continued the combing operation.”The minister mentioned Gowda was energetic and was shifting from state to state.
When requested whether or not an encounter was vital and will he haven’t been delivered to the mainstream, he mentioned: “He (Gowda) has fired on the police as quickly as he noticed them, so that they needed to retaliate.
IGP Rupa Moudgil mentioned the killing of Gowda has weakened the Maoist motion in Kerala and Karnataka to an important extent.
There are two teams working in western ghats area of Karnataka and the most important amongst them was headed by Gowda, she mentioned. With the tip of his run, each teams are on the verge of disintegration or will likely be out of motion for some time, Moudgil mentioned. She mentioned the staff carried out the combing operation repeatedly for 10 days.
The final vital anti-Maoist operation within the state was in February 2005, when high insurgent chief Saketh Rajan was killed close to Kalasa in Chikkamagaluru district. After Rajan’s dying, the Maoists designated February 5 as “Purple Salute” day.
Although Maoists within the state have been muted over the previous 13 years, some officers mentioned that their exercise had ticked up over the previous few months, particularly within the forests of Dakshina Kannada and Chikkamagaluru.
In the meantime, safety forces intensified their operations in Chikkamagaluru district, with ANF launching an intensive combing operation within the Sringeri and Koppa taluks, following intelligence suggesting renewed Maoist exercise within the area.
With PTI inputs
