K'taka: Naxal leader arrested

In a major haul, the anti-Naxal cell of police on Tuesday raided a farm house rented by a naxalite leader in the district and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

The raid, led by District Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kumar Thakur, yielded 10 improvised single shot stenguns, one 0.22 revolver, 26 live cartridges, 17 hand grenades, 13 partially prepared explosives, 1100 electronic detonators and seven special detonators, Inspector General of Police (Eastern Range) F M Pasha told reporters.

Besides these, gas cutters, eight knives, seven swords, a handbook on weapon making, a computer with scanner and one binocular were seized from the farmhouse rented by naxal leader Ranga Reddy of 'Vimukti Dalam', he said.

CPI (ML) literature, flag, letterheads, CD players, CDs and video cassettes were also found at the farm house at Buduguppa on the National Highway.

Terming it a "big haul" and a "landmark recovery in recent times," Pasha said Reddy was involved in 40 criminal cases, including murder, blackmail, explosion and kidnap in Kurnool and Ananthpur districts of Andhra Pradesh.

He said Reddy had taken the farmhouse on rent claiming he was a farmer in Andhra Pradesh.

All police stations in Bellary, Raichur and Koppal districts had been alerted and the police hoped to arrest Reddy soon, he said.