“If you take a look at the guns, you can see that many of them are rusted and not in operational condition. The arms were meant only for imparting training and not for operations,” pointed out Theni SP R Sudhakar.

‘Q’ branch sources dismissed reports that arms were being sourced from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu by Andhra Pradesh Maoists. “The group involved in reviving the movement is so small. Moreover, they are far from even recruiting to start any major operation,” said an officer.

Meanwhile, police have intensified their hunt for one Kalidas, said to be the key person behind the renewed attempt to recruit villagers and impart training. Kalidas has been on the run since the November 2002 Uthangarai operation and has seven cases against him including a case under TADA, and two attempt to murder cases. Police are also on the look out for Chandra, wife of Sundaramoorthy, who was nabbed in a house in Tiruppur near Coimbatore last week.

The last Naxalite incident in the state had taken place way back in November 2002 when following a tip-off from villagers, the ‘Q’ branch swooped down on a group of about 35 youths, including six women, claiming to be members of the Radical Youth League, being trained in guerrilla warfare in the dense mangroves of Jalajothipatty, about 30 km from Dharmapuri. Operation Uthangarai (a village close to Jalajothipatty) lasted about a week and the police nabbed 28 members. One person, Parthipan alias Shiva, was killed in the operation.

... contd.