Were top Maoists near ambush site?

Bhopal: Speculations that big Maoist leaders including some of its politburo members of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) were present 50 km from Burkapal in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Sukma where Naxals ambushed a CRPF party on April 24. At least 25 jawans were killed.

According to unconfirmed reports, two big Maoist leaders including Venugopal Rao and central committee member Ramakrishna of the CPI (Maoist) were present at Bailadila, a hilly area adjoining Sukma district in south Bastar region, when Naxals were carrying out the attack on the road-opening party of the CRPF.

Intelligence sources, however, neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

“The southern Sukma region, declared by Maoists as their liberated zone, has been used as a safe haven by big Naxal leaders after the massacre of 76 CRPF personnel at Tadmetla on April 6, 2010,” a senior police officer in Bastar said.

“The region has still remained out of bounds of administration and police,” he said. “However, we cannot confirm the reports of presence of big Maoist leaders in Bailadila during the Burkapal encounter,” he said.

The Maoists squad had discreetly with the aid of locals kept tracking the movement of the troops before the attack.