CHIKKAMAGALUR, UDUPI: Two days after eliminating wanted Naxal leader Vikram Gowda in an encounter, the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) has stepped up combing operations in three taluks Kudremukh national park and are on the lookout for Mundagaru Latha and Jayanna.
The ANF expects the Naxals, who have escaped from Udupi district to enter Chikkamagaluru forest and have increased vigil in all the four camps in Kalasa, Sringeri and Koppa. The district police are also on alert along all the roads leading from the forests to the town.
It is said that 4-5 other Naxals were with Vikram Gowda during the time of the encounter and they fled in different directions when the exchange of fire broke out. Two of them are also suspected to have sustained bullet injuries. The ANF has stepped up combing in Udupi, Chikkamagalur, Shivamogga and Dakshina Kannnada districts.
Director General of Police (Internal Security Division) Pronab Mohanty, who had visited Udupi to supervise the combing operations last week, addressed a press conference in Udupi on Wednesday and said, “The exchange of fire happened around 6 pm on Monday in the forest where there were 2-3 houses. It was not a planned encounter, it was a perfect encounter and the two parties came face to face. A machine gun, pistol and knife were found with Vikram Gowda”.
Further he said, “The ANF is unsure about how many Naxals were present at that time and is continuing combing operations. Vikram Gowda had many cases registered against him and was a most-wanted Naxal leader. Our main aim is not encounter, but surrender. There are different ways for it and there are packages for surrender and rehabilitation”.
Stating that Vikram Gowda had not communicated about surrender, Mohanty said the ANF had his recent photograph and all documents. “The ANF teams constantly carry out combing operations and people need not worry”, he added.
Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination on Vikram Gowda was carried out at the KMC Hospital in Manipal in the presence of the taluk magistrate after which the body was handed over to the family. He had sustained seven bullet injuries.
An ambulance carrying his body to Hebri overturned into a roadside ditch near Kudlu and was quickly put in upright position by locals after which it proceeded to the destination. The final rites were conducted by the Sita riverside in Kudlu by Vikram’s brother Suresh Gowda and sister Suguna. About 100 villagers were present at that time and Udupi ASP Siddalingappa was also present.