Click to play videoNew Delhi: With Naxals striking at will, Home Minister P Chidambaram has admitted that the Naxal threat in India is being underestimated.
"We did not assess the left wing extremist challenge correctly. We underestimated the challenge," Chidambaram said.
The Government's candid admission that red menace is getting out of hand comes hours after a consignment of hi-tech communication devices meant for Naxal operations was seized from the Ranchi airport. A businessman in Delhi was supplying it.
In the jungles of the red corridor, it's not primitive drum beats sending out the warning signal now but the crackle of walkie-talkies. The equipment which came from Delhi included:
- Motorola Walkie-talkies
- Radio sets
- Micro tape recorders
- Signal receivers
Naxals were getting equipment from Palika Bazar in the heart of Delhi - this is the first time a link has been established between them and traders in the Capital.
The equipment was supplied by a trader named Praveen Sharma, who was arrested in Delhi. Praveen reportedly was in possession of high-powered binoculars and some bulletproof jackets.
The lid has also been blown off the Naxal-contractor nexus with the arrest of a man named Naresh Sharma from Palamu. Naresh Sharma had allegedly ordered the equipment to pay off Naxals.
SSP Ranchi, Praveen Kumar Singh said, "We are in touch with the Delhi Police Special Cell and the consignment has already been seized. Everybody has been produced before court and sent to judicial custody."
The Centre says a total of 915 incidents of violence have been reported from Naxal-affected states this year. The latest haul has sent alarm bells ringing.
Yet another meeting of Naxal terror-hit states has been called in the first week of August, but with the BJP and Congress continuing to differ over protection groups like the Salwa Judum, sparks are expected to fly.
(With inputs from Achyuth Punnekat and Priyanka Dube)
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