14 Naxals killed, 590 arrested or surrendered in operation Octopus, Double Bull, Chakrabandha
Sep 21, 2022
New Delhi [India], September 21 : In fight against left wing extremism (LWE), security forces have achieved unprecedented success this year by neutralising 14 naxals and with the arrest and surrender of 590 naxals in operation Octopus, Double Bull and Chakrabandha.
Seven naxals were killed and 436 arrested or surrendered in Chhattisgarh, four killed in Jharkhand and 120 arrested/surrendered, and 36 arrested or surrendered in Bihar, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General Kuldiep Singh said while addressing a press conference.
Similarly, Singh said, three naxals have been killed by security forces in Madhya Pradesh.
"This success becomes even more important because many of these Maoists (naxals) killed had bounties of lakhs and crores of rupees on their heads like Mithilesh Mahto, who had a reward of Rs 1 crore," the CRPF DG said.
Singh shared the inputs while informing how the security forces for the first time entered the 'Budhapahad' situated at the border of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and the extremely inaccessible areas of Chakrabandha and Bhimabandh of Bihar and successfully ousting the naxals from their strongholds, and set up permanent security forces camps there.
"All these areas were strongholds of top Maoists and a huge quantity of arms, ammunition, foreign grenades, Aero Bombs and IEDs were recovered by the security forces at these places."
Noting that a special strategy is being adopted against Left Wing Extremism from 2019, Singh said the coordinated efforts and campaigns of Central and State Security Forces and related agencies have led to unprecedented success in the fight against LWE.
While informing action being taken by security forces to eliminate LWE, the CRPF DG further said there has been a steady decline in both the incidence of violence and its geographical spread.
"This campaign or fight reaching its final stage is proven by the fact that in 2022 in comparison to 2018, there has been a 39 per cent reduction in the incidents of Left Wing Extremism related violence and 26 per cent reduction in the number of sacrifices made by the security forces," Singh said.
"The civilian casualties has reduced by 44 per cent and the number of districts reporting violence has decreased by 24 per cent as well as the number of these districts has been reduced to just 39 in 2022."
Compared to before 2014, the officer said, incidents of Left Wing Extremism violence have come down by 77 per cent and the incidents of violence have come down from the highest level of 2,258 in 2009 to 509 in 2021.
"The death rate due to violence has also come down by 85 percent. In the year 2010, death toll was at highest level of 1005 which has come down to 147 in the year 2021 and their sphere of influence has decreased significantly."
Simultaneously, Singh further said, the area of influence of naxals has also reduced significantly and their influence has reduced from 96 districts in the year 2010 to only 39 districts in 2022.
On this decisive success, Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the CRPF and the State Security Forces and said that the Ministry of Home Affairs under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue the zero tolerance policy against Left Wing Extremism and terrorism and this fight will be further intensified.
