BENGALURU: Cheeramma, the woman who exposed the existence of Naxals in Karnataka is no more. Hundred-year-old Cheeramma breathed her last this morning in Koppa Taluk of Chikmagalur district.
The villagers who mourned her death recollected the day when an accidental bullet injury to her leg exposed the naxal training activities in Karnataka.
It was on November 6 in 2002 when Cheeramma went into the woods to get some logs when she injured her leg. Not realising what was caused the injury, she went to the doctor only to find a bullet stuck in her leg.
“Later investigations found that there was a naxal training camp set up at Menasinahadya in Koppa and this proved the existence of naxals in the dense forest of Western ghats,” remembered a senior officer who has worked tremendously on naxal combing operations.
On August 6, 2003, a Naxal team was spotted near the house of one Ramachandra Gowdlu in Singsar village of Kudremukh. This was the first ever police encounter with the Naxals in the state.
Following this, there were many combing operations and right now the naxal movement in Karnataka has almost stopped. “Many of them have been brought to mainstream and naxal operations have stopped in Karnataka,” the officer explained.
Cheeramma has left behind three daughters and two sons. She was cremated on Tuesday.