44 Naxals held in Chhattisgarh in two days

In a major combing operation, 44 Naxals have been arrested from different places in the insurgency-hit Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh over the past two days, police said on Wednesday.

The arrested Naxals, against whom warrants were long pending, were involved in several Maoist-related incidents including loot, arson, murder, attacks on security personnel, triggering bomb blasts and destroying government properties, Bijapur Superintendent of Police K L Dhruv said.

Most of the ultras carried cash rewards on their heads, the SP said, adding that after reviewing the arrest warrants issued against them in several Naxal-related incidents, a strategy was chalked out to nab them. Following inputs about the locations of these cadres, police teams were mobilised in different restive pockets of the district, located around 400 km away from the state capital Raipur, the SP said.

"While 37 ultras were arrested yesterday, seven others were nabbed today," Dhruv said, adding that process is underway to produce them in a local court.

Of the arrested, Hemla Lekhu (30) and Raju Tati (26) were involved in attacks on security forces during Lok Sabha polls this year, the SP said. Most of the apprehended Naxals are lower-rung rebels, while others acted as their supporters in the past, police sources said.