Five Naxals arrested in Chhattisgarh

Out of the five, four ultras were arrested from Bijapur district, while another rebel was nabbed in Narayanpur district of the region, a senior police official told PTI.

 A joint team of CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action-a specialised unit of CRPF), Special Task Force (STF) and district force was out on an area domination operation in the interiors of Gangaloor area in Bijapur since yesterday, he said.

 The patrolling team, while cordoning off a forest near Modipara village, spotted four Naxals.

 Subsequently, the team arrested the rebels, identified as Manglu Hemla (35), Raju Tati (28), Ramu Hemla (30) and Hemla Budhu (35), all lower rung cadres, he said.

 In a separate operation, a local Maoist militia commander, identified as Budhru Mandavi (23), was arrested from Kalmanar village in Narayanpur, the official said.

A Maoist banner and two pamphlets were also recovered from his possession, he said.

 All the arrested cadres were allegedly involved in arranging meetings and food for the Naxals, gathering information for them, damaging roads, spreading their propaganda and other offences, he said.

 The Naxal-affected Bastar division, which is spread across 40,000 sq kms in southern part of the state, comprises seven districts - Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma.