For the first time since the emergence of Naxalism, a country-made pen gun has been found in the possession of one of the eight suspected Maoists, who were killed in encounter on the hills of Bailadila in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday. The discovery has surprised the security forces.
According to police sources, two rifles, along with some other weapons, were recovered from Maoists, but the most surprising find was a pen gun. Local media, quoting jawans who were part of the encounter, said the pen gun was recovered from the lady Naxal commander, Jaini, who was among those killed in the encounter.
The small, country-made weapon was made from a nine-inch long metal pipe with nine mm bullets to be used in it.
The pen gun, which resembles a flute, has a range of 15 to 20 metres, according to locals. It is mainly used by the Maoist cadre in emergency situations when they lose their main attack weapons—AK47s and INSAS rifles.
Most of the weapons used by Maoist guerrillas are those that are normally used by police and para-military forces. They often loot the arms carried by the security forces whenever they ambush patrolling parties. According to an estimate, over the last 20 years, nearly 4,000 weapons have been stolen or snatched from police forces by Naxals.
The discovery of indigenous pen gun from Maoists has alarmed the police who will have to rethink about their security strategy as the small weapons may pose threat to important people in the election year.
Over the last two years, Chhattisgarh police has launched a major offensive against the Naxals in Bastar zone. Thursday's encounter saw eight Naxals being killed, while earlier this year, 18 Naxals were killed in two separate encounters in south Bastar.
Thursday's encounter is considered important as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called up Chief Minister Raman Singh to congratulate him over the same. Later, a statement was released by government saying the home minister congratulated state for the successful operation.