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NAGPUR: Police are facing a tricky situation in the Maoist belt of Gadchiroli .

On one hand, they are facing allegations of killing local farmers but on the other, the cops are claiming that the ones killed were not farmers but Maoists masquerading as innocent villagers, who are presenting fake Aadhaar cards to prove their innocence.

On November 30, the C60 commandos had killed Prakash Mohonda alias Sukhram and Raju Pusali at Maoist stronghold of Abhujamadh straddling the borders of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh . On December 25, the villagers of Nelgonda and adjoining hamlets gheraoed the Dhondraj armed outpost of Bhamragarh in south Gadchiroli demanding action.

They also submitted a deputation before the tehsildar protesting the killings of Sukhram and Pusali, claiming that they were farmers who were also tortured despite having no link with the Maoists.

In support of their claims, the villagers have produced Aadhaar cards of the duo who were killed and others who have been untraceable since the encounter, stating they have nothing to do with the Maoist movement.

Sources in the security forces said the Maoists and their supporters have now devised a new strategy wherein they are misleading the government agencies and other human rights protecting bodies by producing Aadhaar cards where the original names of the cadres are documented. However, the banned party has a routine practice of re-christening a recruit with a name given by them.

The Maoists and their supporters are trying to use these two different names, one on Aadhaar card and another given by the family, to create an impression that some innocent villager or a farmer was neutralized in staged encounters and not the cadres named by the security forces. They are also trying to evade arrest during travel and get other benefits, including banking, with their Aadhaar cards.

SP Shailesh Balkawade said most Maoists, including top woman cadre Narmada and her husband, possess Aadhaar cards despite staying in the forest hideout for 25 years. “The surrendered Maoists identified Sukhram (platoon party committee member). Later, we also managed to trace his original village in Chhattisgarh. He is not a native of Gadchiroli but shifted here just five years ago,” he said.

Balkawade said Pusali too shifted to Nelgonda around five years ago from Chhattisgarh and settled there after marrying a local tribal. “Sukhram and Pusali’s family members accepted their bodies and blamed the Maoists for taking them away leading to their deaths. These two persons were present at the Maoists camp site where recruits and others were being provided arms and training,” he said.

“Another dozen villagers had gone too. While eight have returned, four yet to come. We have their names,” the SP said.

Balkawade said the villagers were compelled to gherao the Dhondraj armed outpost by senior cadres Bhupathi and Tarakka. “Tarakka came to the village and stayed till late afternoon and left only after the villagers agreed to head to police post to protest,” he added.

