Police unearthed an arms dump belonging to the naxalites of the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist Janashakti group during a raid on a hideout in the heart of the city on Thursday.
Director General of Police Swaranjit Sen told reporters that they had recovered 50 grenades, an equal number of detonators, small arms and ammunition of various makes (including two SLRs), 30 CDs, literature and assorted items from the hideout located in a double-storeyed building in the Himayatnagar locality.
Police teams conducted raids at Himayatnagar as well as at Nacharam on the city outskirts on the basis of clues obtained by them from the site of encounter in which Janashakti state secretary Riyaz and three other naxalites were killed in an exchange of fire on July 1.
The police had recovered diaries and literature, apart from weapons from the scene of encounter.
Arms, ammunition and other items recovered during the raids were put on display for mediapersons.
The DGP said the 50-odd grenades seized were not country-made, but manufactured at a factory. "Each grenade can take the lives of 10 people, that is, 500 people in all. Now, tell me whether those killed in the encounter were angels?" he asked.
Sen said, "We are on the job of tracing their hideouts as and when we get credible information."
Answering questions, the DGP said the Janashakti naxalites could have been planning to attack some important target in the city. He said that was why the police had to take proactive steps to foil their designs.
While the police found arms at Himayatnagar, they could seize only revolutionary literature from Nacharam.
Stating that the Janashakti naxals were on the run after suffering successive losses, the DGP said that when the police put pressure on them in rural areas, they were shifting to the towns and vice versa.
© 2024 Rediff.com -