At a time when Naxalites and their sympathisers are trying to infiltrate the industrial belts around Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and cities right up to Jammu, new evidence suggests that they are also trying to build urban guerrilla warfare capabilities like rigging remote-controlled explosives devices in cars, even human bombs.

Internal security officials confirmed that a laptop seized following the arrest by Jharkhand police of Jayant alias Kunal alias Tudu on August 12 last year contains literature and designs on rigging explosives for human and car bombs. Prime accused in the murder of CPI-ML Jharkhand MLA Mahendra Singh, Jayant was picked up by police from Chennai. The seized laptop, which was examined by security agencies, indicated that the Naxalites were not only networking with other insurgent groups in India like the ULFA but were interested in guerrilla warfare by non-state players in the Middle-East.

Seized material also shows that the extremists have been training in the use of 12.7 mm anti-aircraft guns and have already acquired 80 mm mortars and rocket-propelled grenade rifles.

Although the Union Home Ministry continues to treat the Naxal menace as a largely socio-economic problem, casualty figures of securitymen have been steadily rising since 2002 and the Naxal influence is spreading across the country. When the NDA quit office in April 2004, there was Naxal presence in 125 districts and 12 states. Today the Naxalites are in 182 districts and 12 states, with “soft bases” in industrial belts around Delhi and Mumbai. In 2004, 23 CRPF battalions were deployed for anti-Naxalite operations. Today, 32 battalions have been pressed into service.

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