Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Karnataka police team inspects seized arms

K.T.Sangameswaran

CHENNAI: A team of Karnataka police officers on Saturday checked some of the arms seized following the arrest of three CPI (Maoist) cadres at Murugan Malai, near Periyakulam, on June 26.

After the arrest of Velmurugan of Periakulam, Palanivel of Chokkampatti, Salem, and Muthu Selvam of Samayanallur, the police seized arms and ammunition. Among the weapons were three .303 rifles, usually given to the police.

The police team from the neighbouring State checked the weapons to determine the State from which the arms had originated, a State police officer said.

The team later left for Karnataka.

A few days earlier, a police team from Andhra Pradesh inspected the weapons to check whether they belonged to the State police.

The other weapons seized included two double-barrel guns.

Besides the hunt led by Additional Director-General of Police K. Vijaykumar, who is in-charge of the Special Task Force, intelligence gathering has been stepped up to ascertain the whereabouts of seven naxalites who are absconding.

Apart from the search for the wanted persons in the hill ranges in various districts, particularly the western ghats, Dharmapuri and Vellore, a vigil is being maintained in and around Periyakulam.

According to information, the naxalites seemed to have arrived at Murugan Malai a day prior to the detection of their presence by the locals. They were looking for a safe hideout in view of the intensified vigil by the police elsewhere.

The hillock was near the main road from where the extremists could easily escape to various major destinations around.

To evade detection, the naxalites seemed to have worked on a need-to-know basis among themselves going by what the arrested persons had told the police, the sources said.

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