20 teams hunt for slain Maoist Vikram Gowda’s associates in K'taka forests

Bengaluru, Nov 20 : More than 20 teams of Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) and local police on Wednesday continued to hunt for the associates of slain Maoist Vikram Gowda in the thick forests of the Western Ghats in the coastal Karnataka region of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

Dreaded and most wanted Maoist, 46-year-old Vikram Gowda was shot dead in a police encounter on Monday evening by the state police. The police forces had launched combing operations after collecting inputs about the movements of Maoists in the region.

The drones and dog squads are being used for search operations in forests and isolated areas. A high alert has been issued in Sringeri, Koppa, Mudigere and Kalasa taluks of Chikkamagaluru district.

A combing operation in the Karkala region of Udupi district of the coastal region has also been launched. The inputs are being collected from local tribes who frequent forests, sources said.

The family of Vikram Gowda were making preparations to conduct the final rites of the body. The postmortem of his body will be conducted at the KMC Hospital in the presence of a judge.

Suguna, the sister of Vikram Gowda who came to the mortuary to collect his body said, “The authorities have told us that they will hand over the body of our brother. We have decided to conduct final rituals to Vikram Gowda’s body at our farm, where our house is also located.”

“Me, Vikram Gowda and another brother Suresh grew up in that house,” she stated.

“We have our land and why Vikram Gowda’s body should be burnt somewhere else like orphans. He had left home many years ago. He never came back to our family or stayed in touch with us,” Suguna stated.

Praveen Gowda, a relative of Vikram Gowda stated, the family has decided to conduct final rituals at his place.

Sources stated that Vikram Gowda was killed when he came with his team to collect ration. The police had gathered information in this regard.

Vikram Gowda had fallen in love with Maoist Savithri and their marriage was conducted in the forests. However, after marriage, Savithri forced him to surrender before the marriage. Not agreeing to it, he had separated from her, sources stated.

Sources further stated that the Maoists are trying to create the base in the coastal Karnataka region and Malnad (hilly) regions of the state following the debate on the implementation of the Kasturirangan report, which recommends eviction of farmers to save the Western Ghats.

The farmers of the coastal districts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Malnad districts of Chikkamagaluru, and Shivamogga will be affected by the implementation of the report.

The Maoists are planning to encash the insecurity of farmers and people of these regions fearing their eviction after the implementation of the Kasturirangan report. The authorities had earlier gathered information that the team led by Vikram Gowda and Mundagaru Latha is meeting the families living on the fringes of the forest areas and conducting meetings.

The classification of 56,826 square kilometers of Western Ghat region including the area in Karnataka and other states as per the report of the Kasturirangan Committee by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has raised stiff opposition in the state.

The Karnataka government has already rejected the Kasturirangan Committee report and opposed the recommendations of the report. It is feared that the development of the region will suffer with the implementation of the report.

Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had clarified in the virtual meeting with Bhupinder Yadav, former Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change that classifying the Western Ghat region as a sensitive zone will impact the life of people of the region and affect their livelihood. He also added that the proposal is opposed by the people as well as the state government.

Karnataka has one of the largest forest covers in the country. Experts have opined that opposition to the Kasturirangan Committee will be disastrous for ecologically fragile Western Ghats. The report proposes that 37 per cent of the total area of the Western Ghats, which is about 60,000 square kilometres, should be declared as an eco-sensitive area (ESA).