UDUPI: In an ongoing operation by the anti-naxal force, notorious Naxal leader Vikram Gowda was encountered in Idu village in Karkala taluk of Udupi district in Karnataka on Monday night.
Vikram Gowda has been a Naxal for the last one and a half decade and he hailed from Kabbinale village near Hebri. Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) staff encountered him when his team came face to face with them. Monday's encounter at Idu village occurred after a gap of 21 years.
On November 17, 2003, two women naxalites were killed in an encounter with the police near Idu in Karkala. Sumati (24), a resident of Koppa, and Usha (23) from Shivamogga were killed then.
It is said that during the encounter on Monday night, three other naxalites escaped and combing operations have been intensified in the Western Ghat areas near Karkala and Hebri.
Vikram Gowda's team was in the neighbouring DK district in March this year. Four armed individuals were seen in Koojimale near Sampaje, on the border of Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts on March 17, 2024.
These individuals had introduced themselves as Forest Department personnel to a shopkeeper while purchasing rice and other groceries before proceeding to the forest. Subsequently, the suspected Maoist members were spotted in Subrahmanya, DK district on March 23 and March 27, 2024.
Based on the description given by the villagers, the police had suspected them to be Vikram Gowda, Vanajakshi, Lata and John. These four members of 'Kabini Dalam' were said to have tasked with scouting new place in Karnataka to continue their operations against the state.
In the first week of this month, suspected Maoists were reported moving in Idu, and the ANF intensified combing operations in the village and adjoining places of Karkala taluk in Udupi district. ANF continued with its routine combing operations.
In Karnataka state, Saket Rajan was leading the Naxalites from 2001 and he was encountered by the police at a place called Menasinahadya near Koppa taluk of Chikkamagaluru district on February 6, 2005. Later Nelaguli Padmanabha took the leadership. He lost his leg at a police firing near Barkana.
From 2006 to 2011, B G Krishnamurthy led the Naxalites in the state. As his wife, Naxal Hosagadde Prabhu's health deteriorated, his focus went on treating her. Later, Vikram Gowda took over the leadership in the state during 2011.