Maharashtra ATS arrests Naxal with Rs 10 lakh reward in Thane; 711 BGL shells found in Bijapur

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a wanted Naxal from Thane district. He carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh, an officer said on Saturday.

According to the officer, the man has been identified as Sanjay Sarju Yadav, 45, a resident of Devgaon village in Jharkhand's Palamu district. The ATS had received firm intelligence, and on that basis he was taken into custody in the Thakurli area.

In preliminary questioning, Yadav said he was a member of the zonal committee of a banned Naxal organisation. He also said he had been hiding in Thakurli for the past 10 days to evade law enforcement agencies.

The officer said the ATS handed Yadav over to Jharkhand Police, who have formally arrested him for further legal action.

Separately, in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, security forces on Thursday recovered 711 barrel grenade launcher (BGL) shells from a forest during an anti-Naxal operation. The shells were found in a forested area near KG Hills, about one and a half kilometres north-west of the forward operating base (FOB) at Tadpala. They are believed to have been hidden by Maoist cadres.

Officials said a joint team of Bijapur district police, the CRPF and CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) carried out a search operation on specific intelligence. The operation was conducted in dense forest around FOB Tadpala, which falls under the jurisdiction of Usur police station.

During the search, the personnel found a cache of shells hidden in the forest near KG Hills. All 711 shells were recovered, made safe and taken into official custody. This was done following the prescribed safety and explosives-handling procedures so that no shell would go off accidentally.

Officials described the recovery as a major blow to the Maoists' supply system in the area. BGL shells are used to fire grenades and can cause heavy damage in ambushes or attacks on security camps. The entire operation was carried out jointly by the state police and central forces on intelligence inputs.

The administration has appealed to local residents and outsiders not to go to Karegutta and the surrounding hills for now. The reason given is that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other unexploded explosives left behind by Maoist cadres may be there.