Jawan injured as ANF raids Naxal camp in Belthangady

A member of Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) was injured when he was hit by a Naxal’s bullet on Saturday. The exchange of fire took place at Malavanthige village in Belthangady taluk, 90km from Mangalore.

ANF jawan, Sadashiv Chaudhury,30, received a bullet wound when the Naxals returned fire. He has been admitted to a hospital in Belthangady and sources said that he is no longer critical.

“We suspect that there were about eight Naxals in a camp near Urgayani falls in Malavanthige village.

The Naxals had camped there and had resorted to unprovoked firing when we surrounded them. We also returned the fire, but they escaped into the forest after shooting one of our jawans,” said Pratap Reddy, inspector general of police (Western range).
Sources said the ANF also recovered provisions, arms and ammunition from the Naxals’ camp. “We do not know if this is the same group that has been operating in other parts of Western Ghats. We suspect that it is a new group with not more than eight members, because the ration we found was sufficient only for seven to eight people,” said insiders at ANF.

This is the first time the Naxals were spotted in Belthangady taluk.
They usually camp at Hebri in Udupi taluk, Shankaranaryana in Kundapur taluk, Nuralubettu in Karkala taluk and Menasinahadya in Mudigere taluk of Chikmagalur district, sources said.