The increase in naxal attacks on police and civilians in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region has law enforcement agencies worried.

There have been at least 15 incidents of violence involving Naxalites over the past five weeks. The incidents have claimed the lives of 14 persons, including 12 policemen.

Significantly, the Naxalites seem to be concentrating on Gadchiroli district. All the incidents occurred in Gadchiroli, except one in Gondia district.

This is in spite of the fact that Chandrapur and Bhandara districts are also considered Naxal-infested.

This may only be a coincidence, but naxal activities in the region increased suddenly after the infamous killing of a tribal, Shankar Parkiwar, by the police in Vyankatapur village in Gadchiroli district on May 3, 2005.

• Who are the Naxalites?

One version of the incident says Parkiwar's wife was caught having an affair with a police officer, Bhausaheb Magre, while another says that Magre had tried to outrage the woman's modesty.

Parkiwar was enraged when he found his wife in a compromising position with Magre and beat him up.

He retaliated by opening fire, leading to Parkiwar's death. The police are now trying to cover up the whole affair by labelling Parkiwar a 'naxal sympathiser'.

Whatever the truth, the incident sure triggered a string of other incidents in the region, beginning with the blowing up of a gram panchayat building in Kamlapur (Gadchiroli district) 10 days later, on May 13.

The incidents have continued unabated since. The Naxalites who torched panchayat buildings at three more places were involved in encounters with the police on five occasions.

The Naxalites killed two persons suspecting them to be police informers. They also killed a police officer in an attack on a police outpost, and triggered three landmine blasts that claimed 11 policemen.

The sudden increase in naxal activities has affected the morale of policemen in Vidarbha, especially those deployed in the dense forests of Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Gondia and Bhandara districts.

Police officials admit the fact in private conversations.

There have been reports that the arms and ammunition supplied by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence to militants in the northeast, especially the United Liberation Front of Asom, have found their way to Maoist groups in the country.

Some of the weapons are suspected to have reached naxalite groups in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

The Centre has alerted all naxalite-infested states, including Maharashtra, about the passage of weapons. Of course, the police in Nagpur say that there has been no 'significant evidence' to suggest that arms and ammunition from Pakistan are being used by naxalites in Vidarbha.

"However, we are taking all the necessary precautions and preventive measures," a senior police officer said.

Central India News Service