Vikram Gowda, Karnataka’s most needed Naxal chief who had been on the police radar for many years, was tracked by native informants and ambushed throughout an operation concentrating on the home he was anticipated to go to in a village in his residence taluk within the state’s Udupi district, The Indian Categorical has learnt.
Vikram Gowda, 44, was killed within the encounter with the Anti-Naxal Power (ANF) in Pithubail, Nadpalu underneath the Hebri taluk late Monday after he walked right into a lure laid by the Karnataka Police following info that he had paid a household within the village to provide provisions to his group, in accordance with sources.
Sources mentioned the “encounter” wherein Vikram Gowda, 44, was killed got here after the police gathered info and intelligence in Kerala and Karnataka for over three months concerning the actions and actions of the group of the final eight armed Naxals working in Karnataka underneath the management of Gowda.
They mentioned a number of the info got here from Naxals from Karnataka, who had been arrested in 2021 by the Kerala Police and are housed in jails in that state. The important thing info was concerning the identities of these whom the Naxals may search help from whereas hiding within the forests in Karnataka.
Nevertheless, the police have acknowledged within the First Data Report (FIR) registered within the case on November 19 that ANF personnel chanced upon the Naxal chief and some of his associates throughout combing operations within the forest on the night of November 18. The police mentioned within the FIR that they referred to as out to the Naxals saying they need to give up. Nevertheless, the FIR acknowledged, that the Naxal chief refused to give up and as an alternative opened hearth and the police retaliated as a consequence Vikram Gowda was killed and a 9 mm carbine gun was recovered from his possession.
Maintaining a watch
Whereas Vikram Gowda was prone to search assist from distant homes within the Hebri area of Udupi the place he hailed from, his affiliate Sundari, who’s at massive, was anticipated to faucet outdated acquaintances within the forests close to Belthangady in Dakshina Kannada.
“All of the individuals who had been recognized as being prone to be approached by Naxals, confirmed to have re-entered Karnataka and roaming the forests close to Dakshina Kannada and Udupi since August, had been underneath the watch of the police,” mentioned a supply.
One of many individuals within the Pithubail, Nadpalu village reportedly agreed to assist the police seize Vikram Gowda after the pressure discovered that he had visited his home round November 10 in search of assist. “Vikram Gowda had paid the informant for provisions and was scheduled to reach on November 18 to gather them,” the supply mentioned.
On November 18, when the Naxal chief was scheduled to go to the home, the police requested the household of the informant and two neighbours to maneuver to the houses of kinfolk.
Vikram Gowda reportedly approached the home alone on the night of November 18 to gather provides as he had deliberate earlier, and round three of his associates, together with Sundari, waited a long way away. When he approached the home, ANF personnel who had been ready in hiding opened hearth fearing that Gowda would use his gun too, sources mentioned. “We gave a warning to give up however he didn’t pay attention and there was a skirmish and firing,” a senior police official mentioned concerning the taking pictures.
No accidents have been reported to the ANF workforce led by Jitendra Dayam, Superintendent of Police, within the encounter.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah mentioned the encounter was carried out to curb Naxal actions within the state. “He was requested to give up, however he didn’t. He had a bounty of Rs 25 lakh by the Kerala authorities and Rs 5 lakh by the state authorities,” he mentioned.
House minister G Parameshwara mentioned that Gowda had greater than 60 circumstances, together with homicide, circumstances in opposition to him. “He had an automated machine gun. Efforts had been made for his give up prior to now with the assistance of his kinfolk. Nevertheless, he had not agreed,” he mentioned.
A hardline Naxal
Vikram Gowda was among the many eight remaining underground Naxals from Karnataka, and among the many seven remaining leaders, 4 are ladies. The group is suspected to have break up into two to forestall detection with Sundari, Vanajakshi, and Ramesh from Tamil Nadu shifting with Vikram Gowda. The second group led by Mundgaru Latha and comprising Jisha from Kerala, Jayanna, and Ravi, is reportedly in one other location.
Seen because the final standing main Naxal chief from Karnataka following the arrest of B G Krishnamurthy, alias Gangadhar, 50, by the Kerala Police in 2021, there have been round 61 circumstances registered in opposition to Vikram Gowda in Karnataka starting from issuance of threats to assaults and homicide. Vikram Gowda was thought-about one of many extra hardline Naxals in Karnataka and Kerala and was holding out in opposition to surrendering even after many surrendered. He was reportedly a part of the Kabini Dalam within the Naxal organisation.
After initially being aligned with Naxal actions as a courier and fund collector within the forests round his residence within the Western Ghats, Gowda went underground in 2002. Sources mentioned Gowda, who studied till Class 4, was concerned in tribal rights activism.
Gowda moved to neighbouring Kerala in round 2014 and was a senior chief concerned in Naxal actions within the state. A number of of the motion’s prime leaders in Kerala and Karnataka like Mohideen surrendered in 2021 together with B G Krishnamurthy and Vikram Gowda’s former spouse Savitri.
Naxal actions in Karnataka are largely confined to the forests of the Western Ghat districts within the state — Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Chikamagalur, Kodagu, and Hassan — and have been nearly negligible since 2018 when the group was lowered to a mere 19 and reportedly moved to Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
In the meantime, the Folks’s Union for Civil Liberties Wednesday referred to as the taking pictures of Vikram Gowda a “homicide”, and sought the submitting of an FIR in opposition to police officer concerned within the encounter. “The PUCL condemns the homicide of Naxalite chief Vikram Gowda which is sought to be defined away by the police as an ‘encounter’. The killing on November 19, 2024, is nothing apart from a violation of the assure of the best to life underneath Article 21 of the Structure underneath the guise of an ‘encounter,” a PUCL assertion mentioned.
The PUCL demanded the “registration of an FIR for culpable murder in opposition to the cops concerned within the so-called encounter instantly”.
On Wednesday, rehabilitated Naxals Noor Sridhar and Sirimane Nagaraj sought a judicial probe into the killing of Vikram Gowda by the Karnataka ANF. Sridhar urged the Karnataka Authorities to get the encounter investigated by a retired decide, and mentioned the tradition of encounters mustn’t proceed.
