Nilawaya attack: Three ultras held in Chhattisgarh

Three naxals, who were allegedly part of a squad involved in the October 2018 Nilawaya attack in which two policemen and a Doordarshan cameraman were killed in Chhattisgarh, have been arrested from Dantewada district, police said Wednesday.

The ultras, identified as Raju (26), Bheema (33) and Gujja Barse (29), are members of the Janmilitia platoon, a police officer said.

"They were arrested on Tuesday (January 8) from Barrem village forest under Aranpur police station limits, around 400 kms from Raipur, by a joint team of CRPF's 111th battalion and local police on a tip-off," Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava told PTI.

The trio were part of the Maoist squad that had attacked the police personnel escorting a three-member team of the national broadcaster Doordarshan near Nilawaya village on October 30 last year, Pallava said.

DD cameraman Achyutanand Sahu, sub-inspector Rudra Pratap Singh and assistant constable Manglu were killed in the ambush.

The SP said the three ultras were also looking after various tasks like arranging meetings of senior cadres, arranging logistics for daily commodities and conducting recee, Pallava said.

At the time of the incident, the Doordarshan crew was headed towards Nilawaya on motorcycles to cover developmental works and preparations related to November 2018 Chhattisgarh elections.