Chhattisgarh: Six `Naxalite supporters' held with weapon, explosives

Six suspected Naxalite supporters were arrested from two places in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district and a pistol, live cartridges and explosive materials were recovered from their possession, police said here.

Sheikh Farid Mastav Wali (24), Sheikh Momin (36) and Maddi Satyanarayan Reddy (57) were arrested from Basaguda police station area on Thursday, said an official.

Santosh Gupta, Prince Sharma and Vijay Sahu were apprehended from Bhairamgarh town on Wednesday night, he added.

Sheikh Farid Mastav Wali and the other two tried to escape when they spotted a joint team of the state's Special Task Force and local police near Chintavagu rivulet, said Bijapur district Superintendent of Police Anjneya Varshney.

They were held, and gelatin sticks, detonators, cordex wire, a safety fuse, electric wire and fuse wire were found in their bag, he said.

During interrogation, the trio disclosed that the consignment of explosive materials was meant for `Shankar', the Local Organisation Squad (LOS) commander of Naxalites in Basaguda area, he said.

Sheikh Farid and Sheikh Momin are residents of Guntur district in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh while Reddy is from Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana, the official said.

In a separate action, three others were apprehended from Bhairamgarh and a pistol with 'Made in USA' embossed on it was recovered from them. They were going to provide the pistol to a Naxalite, the SP said. ''Acting on a tip-off, police first rounded up Gupta, a local resident, and recovered three live cartridges from his possession. He told police about Sharma and Sahu, following which they were arrested from Bhairamgarh bus stand,'' Varshney added.

The pistol and ammunition were meant for one Hungo Madkami alias Hunga, a Naxalite leader, he said, adding that further investigation was underway.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)