Seven Maoist cadres held in Chhattisgarh

Seven Maoist cadres were arrested from separate places in the insurgency-hit Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, a police official said here today.
Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Indira Kalyan Elesela told PTI that while six Maoist cadres were apprehended from the Bhairamgarh police station area, another Maoist cadre was nabbed from Gangaloor police station limits yesterday.
A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) team rounded up the rebels identified as Sitaram Bhaskar (20), Budhram Weko (22), Salki Sodhi (30), Payku Mandavi (25), Pardeshi Ram (28) and Ganesh Bhaskar (20) during a combing operation in Bhairamgarh, located around 450 km away from the Chhattisgarh state capital, the official said.

Out of those held, Sitaram and Salki were allegedly involved in an attack on a CRPF camp at Patrapara and the killing of an assistant constable Bhanu Poyam, the ASP said.
The rest of them allegedly played a vital role in blocking national highway number 63 in Bijapur as well as interrupting vehicular movement during the recently observed Martyr's Week from July 28 to August 3, the official said.
In a separate search operation, a joint team of the Special Task Force (STF) and state's district reserve group (DRG) arrested a Maoist cadre in uniform from Kawadgaon village forests under Gangaloor police station limits.

The arrested Maoist has been identified as Punem Sukku (20), the police official said.
One muzzle loading gun, a grenade, two bombs, a couple of detonators, gunpowder, bags and Maoist literature were also recovered from his possession, the police official said.