Arms dump of naxals found in Bellary dist

Bellary (Karnataka), Apr 4: In a major anti-naxal operation, the Bellary police have unearthed a huge cache of arms belonging to the ultras at Boodiguppa village in Koppal district of Karnataka.

Inspector General of Police (Eastern Range) Davanagere M F Pasha told reporters here that the arms were recovered last evening from a locked house belonging to a notorious naxal Rangareddy (31), who operated in Kurnool and Mahabubnagar in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

He said police recovered 26 live cartridges, two 9 mm revolver rounds, a 0.22 revolver, 0.303 SLR rounds, 17 improvised explosive devices (hand grenades), 11 half prepared explosives, 11 electronic detonators, seven special detonators, 47 explosive gels, a gas cutter, two drilling machines, 11 small pipes, tool box, binocular, video camera, a hand book on weapon making, fake currency printing machines, computer with scanner, printer, six feed of Rs 50 denomination ready for printing and CPI (ML) propaganda material.

This is the second time that Rangareddy had managed to give a slip to the police. Last month, he had a narrow escape when Bellary police raided a city lodge based on a tip-off that Rangareddy and his men were planning to meet at the lodge to carry out their plot of eliminating a mine owner S K Modi. However, police were successful in only arresting his four accomplices.

Based on the leads provided by the four arrested, Superintendent of Police Pankajkumar Thakur and his team intensified efforts to track down Rangareddy and raided the house.

Rangareddy was the self-styled Secretary of CPI (ML) Liberation, a breakaway group of CPI(ML) Ashok group. Rangareddy, hailing from this district, frequently shifted his house along with his family.

It was believed that he provided arms and ammunition to his associates in Anantapur district and about 40 criminal cases have been booked against him.

Commending the work of the district police, Mr Pasha said he would recommend their case for a suitable reward.

UNI