The search operations organised by the special squads of the police and the forest officials to spot the suspected group of The police and the Thunderbolt Commandos deputed to hound out the group of Maoists suspected to have gone into hiding in the eastern hill region could not come up with any trace of evidence confirming the presence of the outlawed group of extremists even on the fourth day of the search.
Still, there has been no laxity on the part of the law enforcement agencies to take precautionary measures to face the looming threat. On the basis of the information provided by the villagers at the Chittari Colony and the residents of of Kanhirakkolli, the police had identified the presence of three hardcore Maoists in the region.
This was done based on the descriptions given by the local people about the strange visitors to the area and the photographs shown to them by the police.
The search team and the Thunderbolt Commandos concentrated their attention on the Aralam forest area on Saturday. The combing operations in the forest supported by the Karnataka cops carried out on Saturday yielded no results. The prevailing apprehension is that the Maoists haven’t abandoned the idea of organising a reprisal to mark the death anniversary of Naxalite leader Varghese. They are suspected to be waiting for an opportune moment to strike.
According to a senior police official, there was no doubt that the Maoists were trying to make an all-out bid to establish a foothold in the tribal belt of the state. Unfortunately for them, the tribal organisations and the leaders of the former Naxalite movement in the state weren’t ready to lend a helping hand. The Maoist intruders whose presence in the state is yet to be established would keep the strategy of lying low for the time being. Meanwhile, the Thunderbolt Commandos, the police and the forest officials continued their search operations at Aralam on Saturday.