1,265 alleged Naxals, supporters arrested in a decade

Nagpur: State police have so far arrested 1265 alleged Naxalites and their sympathizers in the last one decade for perpetrating rebellion against the state. The information and public relation desk of the state government released the statistics and details of the senior Naxalite cadres arrested under an aggressive policy of the state security forces in the last 10 years.
The press statement also highlighted the fact that the rebel movement, which reached Gadchiroli district in 1980s, misguided several tribals convincing them to take a path of violence. The statement held the Naxals responsible for physically torturing the tribals and compelling them to adopt questionable ideologies taking them away from the mainstream.
The press statement, which stated 302 Naxals and their supporters were arrested in 2005 alone, claimed that it included several top rebel leaders representing Maharashtra state committee, secretary level member of divisional committee, area commander, dalam commander and others. The government also started its surrender policy in 2005 which was improved in January 2013. Till date, 479 Naxals have surrendered before police and district administration under the policy.
The press release highlighted police’s major success in 2007 when North Gadchiroli Gondia division’s secretary Ashok Satya Reddy alias Murli, Maharashtra state committee secretary Shreedhar Shrinivasan and state committee member Vikram Gonsalvez were those nabbed. In 2007, 138 Naxalites and their supporters were nabbed. In 2009, police arrested 169 cadres despite suffering 51 casualties in Gadchiroli. This year too, police have arrested top cadres like divisional committee member Shivaji among eight others till February.