Nagpur: Police have registered a case against Naxal leader Bhaskar Hichkani and over 40 others in connection with the blast in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district in which 15 policemen and a driver were killed on May 1. The FIR has been registered at Purada police station, a local police official confirmed Saturday. Fifteen members of district police’s Quick Response Team and a driver were killed when Naxals blew up their vehicle on Wednesday.
Police sources had said earlier that the attack could be Naxals’ response to the death of Bhaskar’s wife in an encounter. Ramco alias Kamla Manku Narote (46), “divisional committee member” of Gatta Dalam of the Naxals, was killed in an encounter with police in Gadchiroli district on April 27. She was carrying a reward of Rs 16 lakh on her head. Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar alleged on Saturday that a special budgetary provision for Naxal-affected Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts in Maharashtra has been discontinued.
Talking about Wednesday’s Naxal attack in Gadchiroli district in which 15 policemen and a civilian driver were killed, he also accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of neglecting the area. “The Naxal issue is old. But when I was chief minister, we saw it as not just a law and order problem but also a development issue. If the development of these areas is neglected, the Naxals take advantage of people’s resentment,” he said at a press conference here.
