Raipur: To help identify top naxals,
security agencies have been able to piece together sketches of
these extremists who had remained faceless for decades now.
Police and security forces fighting the naxals in
Chhattisgarh were recently handed over sketches of some of the
Naxalites who have been active in the area.
But since the pictures of numerous top naxal leaders are
not available, artists have been roped in to draw sketches
based on details provided by arrested Maoists.
"The security forces, both state and central, are
being provided with the sketches in order to get the top
leadership of the naxals and also to sharpen intelligence
based operations," a senior security officer said.
The photographs are being provided to all officers in
the rank of company commanders and commanding officers of
battalions deployed in naxal areas.
The directives to take up intelligence-based operations
have been issued from Home ministry and the headquarters
of para-military forces. Once the security teams have the
photographs they can also take the help of locals to track the
movements of naxal leaders, the officer said.
According to sources, the security forces are also
taking the help of locals to prepare the sketches of the naxal
leaders.
Almost 60,000 personnel of central security forces apart
from state police teams are undertaking operations in the
Left wing extremism hit areas of the country.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 20:14