Two days after six Naxals surrendered before Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his home office in Bengaluru, the Chikmagalur police have recovered the arms and ammunition that were hidden in the Kittaleguli village in Jayapura police station limits.
The six Naxals had handed over only the letter of surrender and their uniforms to the chief minister on their surrender, but not the weapons. This triggered the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which demanded to know if it was a "fake surrender" and questioned the intent of the Congress government in according a "warm reception" to the surrendering Naxals. The chief minister had handed over flowers and a copy of the Indian Constitution to the surrendered Naxals.
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"Have the Naxals surrendered before the government or the Siddaramaiah government surrendered before the Naxals? The people who supported the Naxals and helped them to stage the surrender should be booked," demanded BJP MLC C.T. Ravi, adding that the Naxals did not surrender their weapons and that had paved the way for the suspicion.
Chikmagalur SP Dr Vikram Amathe, in a press statement, said the PSI Jayapura had seized the hidden weapons in a forest near Kittaleguli based on information gathered from the surrendered Naxals.
According to police, the following arms and ammunition were seized: one AK 56, three .303 rifles, one 12-bore SBBL, one countrymade pistol, 11 7.62mm AK ammunition, 133 .303 rifle ammunition, 24 12-bore cartridges, eight countrymade pistol ammunition and an empty AK 56 magazine.
Jayapura police station has registered a case under sections 3, 25(1B), 7 & 25(1A) of the Arms Act, 1959.
