CHIKKAMAGALURU: Naxal activities have quietly reappeared in parts of Udupi district, after being off the grid for over a decade. Villagers in the Kollur police station limits have informed that armed Naxals in green fatigues visited some houses recently, which led to the suspicion of their presence and movements in the region. The Chikkamagaluru Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) has been directed by SP Jitendra Kumar Dayam to be more alert and vigilant.
Naxals used to organise ‘Red Salute’ programmes to remember their leader Saketh Rajan, who was killed by the police in an encounter at Menasinahadya near Kalasa in the wee hours of February 6, 2005. Each year, his comrades celebrate this day as ‘Red Salute’ to pay homage to him, under the theme ‘19 years of martyrdom’.
There are four ANF camps in Chikkamagaluru district and high alert has been sounded in the Western Ghats of Malnad region in the wake of reported Naxal movements in the coastal belt.
Last November, Kerala’s ‘Thunderbolt’ police force zeroed in on five Naxals in Wayanad, and three, including Srimathi, a native of Belagodina Kodige in Sringeri taluk of Chikkamagaluru, were arrested. A year ago, Naxal leader and lawyer BG Krishnamurthy, who hails from Sringeri, was arrested from Sultan Batheri in Kerala. Recently, he was produced before a Shivamogga court.
Sources said that due to increased police operations in Kerala, the Naxals are believed to have crossed over to the coastal belt and Malnad region in Karnataka. In the wake of the 19th death anniversary of Saketh Rajan on February 6, it is suspected that Naxal Vikram Gowda and his men may be moving around in the region to grant new momentum to their activities.