Rumours of dead bodies spread in Naxal-infested zones

Mangalore Today News Network

Subrahmanya, Sep 14, 2012 : The Anti Naxal Force (ANF) has intensified combing operation in Bisale forest, where an ANF team recently encountered a group of Naxals. One of the ANF teams marched from one end of the forest, and another team from Karkala joined the operation on September 13, Thursday, at 4:30 a.m. and began marching from the other end.

 

 

 

Since the villagers had reported that a group of five Naxals had visited them a few days ago, the ANF feels that the Naxals are still present in the forests.

On the morning of September 13, Thursday, the villagers began spreading rumors that the decomposed body of a male was found in the forests. A Naxal had died in the encounter between the ANF and the Naxal force on September 4, and another Naxal was believed to have been wounded. The villagers felt that the wounded Naxal had died in the forest and his body was found on Thursday.

Someone had called the Kadaba police and told them that he had seen a dead body in the forest, and this led to all the rumors.

When villagers saw a private ambulance in the vicinity, they began spreading stories that the ambulance had come to take the dead body and that the dead body was that of the Naxal who was wounded on the day of the encounter. A number of villagers from Subrahmanya, Kaikamba, Bilinele, and other places rushed to the spot. When reporters heard of this, they too rushed to the spot.

The driver of the ambulance said that he had received a phone call from Kadaba police station that a dead body has been found in Cheru. However, nobody knows for sure if there was a dead body in the vicinity.

ANF IGP Alok Kumar said that a team of Naxals, one of them injured, is believed to be hiding in the forests, owing to which the ANF team is combing the area. After the last encounter, the Naxals had abandoned their tent, kitbag, and essential commodities, and this might have forced them to visit houses in search of food and other essentials.

Stating that the ANF has not yet verified the presence of a dead body, Mr. Kumar said that the stench in the forest area could have been caused by the carcass of a dead wild animal.

An ANF officer said that the team hasn’t found any Naxal in the forests of Bagimale. Voicing his opinion that the phone call about a dead body might have been a hoax, he said that the Naxals could have tried to trick the ANF team so that they could escape when the ANF was busy investigating the dead body.

The ANF and the ambulance returned without any dead body on the evening of Thursday.