Alex Paul Menon is an Indian Administrative Services officer of 2006 batch. [1] [2] He was kidnapped by Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh state in 2012 and freed after 12 days of captivity. [3] He is currently posted as labour commissioner & secretary, food and civil supplies under Chhattisgarh government.
Alex Paul Menon was named after famous politician V. K. Krishna Menon by his father who was affiliated with Indian National Congress. Mr. Alex Menon did electronics engineering from Madurai Kamaraj University and earned a master's degree in public policy. [4]
Menon started his career in 2007 working at Govt of Chhattisgarh as an IAS officer.
On April 21, 2012, Menon attended a meeting of tribal villagers to hear about their problems and developmental needs and to announce the introduction of modern agriculture and horticulture techniques to boost the income of villagers at Majhipara, a Sukma village. [5] [6] While he was attending the meeting, the rebels killed two security guards traveling with Menon and kidnapped him taking as a hostage. [7] He was released from captivity on May 3, 2012. Menon is the first collector to have been abducted by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist banned communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the "semi-colonial and semi-feudal Indian state" through protracted people's war. It was founded on 21 September 2004, through the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War (People's War Group) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI). The party has been designated as a terrorist organisation in India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since 2009.
Mahendra Karma was an Indian political leader belonging to Indian National Congress from Chhattisgarh. He was the leader of the opposition in the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha from 2004 to 2008. In 2005, he played a top role in organising the Salwa Judum movement against Naxalites, a Maoist group in Chhattisgarh. He was a Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Ajit Jogi cabinet since the state formation in 2000 to 2004. He was assassinated by Naxalites on 25 May 2013 in the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley while returning from a Parivartan Rally meeting organised by his party in Sukma.
Dantewada District, also known as Dantewara District or Dakshin Bastar District, is a district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Dantewada is the district headquarters. The district is part of Bastar Division. Until 1998, Dantewada District was a tehsil of the larger Bastar District.
Salwa Judum was a militia that was mobilised and deployed as part of counterinsurgency operations in Chhattisgarh, India, aimed at countering Naxalite activities in the region. The militia, consisting of local tribal youth, received support and training from the Chhattisgarh state government. It was outlawed and banned by a Supreme Court court order but continues to exist in the form of armed auxiliary forces, District Reserve Groups, and other vigilante groups.
Nand Kumar Patel was an Indian National Congress politician from the province of Chhattisgarh. He was elected to the Kharsia Assembly Constituency five times in a row.
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is an ongoing conflict between Maoist groups known as Naxalites or Naxals and the Indian government. The influence zone of the Naxalites is called the red corridor, which has been steadily declining in terms of geographical coverage and number of violent incidents, and in 2021 it was confined to the 25 "most affected" locations and 70 "total affected" districts across 10 states in two coal-rich, remote, forested hilly clusters in and around the Dandakaranya-Chhattisgarh-Odisha region and the tri-junction area of Jharkhand-Bihar and-West Bengal. The Naxalites have frequently targeted police and government workers in what they say is a fight for improved land rights and more jobs for neglected agricultural labourers and the poor.
This is a timeline of the 1967–present Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in eastern India.
The April 2010 Dantewada Maoist attack was an 6 April 2010 ambush by Naxalite-Maoist insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) near Chintalnar village in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh, India, leading to the killing of 76 CRPF policemen and 8 Maoists — the deadliest attack by the Maoists on Indian security forces.
Soni Sori is an Adivasi school teacher turned political leader of Aam Aadmi Party in Sameli village of Dantewada in south Bastar, Chhattisgarh, India. She was arrested by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch for Chhattisgarh Police in 2011 on charges of acting as a conduit for Maoists. During her imprisonment, she was tortured and sexually assaulted by Chhattisgarh state police. By April 2013, the Indian Courts had acquitted her in six of the eight cases filed against her due to lack of evidence. After release from prison, Sori began campaigning for the rights of those caught up in the conflict between Maoist insurgents and the government, in particular criticising police violence against tribespeople in the region.
Tadmetla, also known as Tadmetala is a village in Chhattisgarh state, India. It is located in the Konta tehsil of Sukma in the Bastar division.
Vinod Kumar Choubey, KC was an Indian Police Service officer of 1998 batch who was killed in action in an encounter with naxalites in the Rajnandgaon ambush in July 2009. Choubey was posthumously awarded with peacetime gallantry award "Kirti Chakra" by Hon. President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil in March 2011.
On 25 May 2013, Naxalite insurgents of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) attacked a convoy of Indian National Congress leaders in the Jhiram Ghati, Darbha Valley in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, India. The attack caused at least 27 deaths, including that of former state minister Mahendra Karma and Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel. Vidya Charan Shukla, a senior Congress leader, succumbed to his injuries on 11 June 2013.
Kawasi Lakhma is currently serving as cabinet Minister of Chhattisgarh he was also elected as MLA 5 times consecutively from Konta. He was one of the survivors of 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley. His name was widely discussed as his own party men expressed doubt about his integrity and questioned his role in the Naxal attack, when other Congress leaders were shot dead in the attack, Kawasi Lakhma was spared and this has raised doubts.
Kadari Satyanarayan Reddy, commonly known by his nom de guerre, Kosa, was a Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned Maoist insurgent communist party in India.
The People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) is the armed wing of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned political organisation in India which aims to overthrow the Indian Government through protracted people's war.
The 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election was held to elect members to the Legislative Assembly of the Indian State of Chhattisgarh. The election was held in two phases for a total of 90 seats; the first for 18 seats in South Chhattisgarh was held on 12 November 2018, and the second for the remaining 72 were held on 20 November.
On 13 March 2018, at least nine Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and six others were injured when Maoists blew up a mine-protected vehicle with an IED in Sukma district, Chhattisgarh, India.
Vivekanand Sinha, is the Inspector General of Police of the Durg range of Chhattisgarh. He has previously served as the Inspector General of Police of Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. He has been an IPS since 1996. He was appointed as the head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for the investigation of Jhiram Valley Attack by government of Chhattisgarh on 2 January 2019. The Jhiram Valley Attack was a naxal attack which killed top Congress leaders of Chhattisgarh in 2013 during a political rally in Darbha. The new SIT has been formed by the newly elected Congress government of Chhattisgarh to probe into it He has also served as the DIG of Special Protection Group which looks after the security of the Prime Minister of India. During his tenure as IG in Bilaspur, Sinha walked on coal barefoot to convince the locals that there is no magic in walking on coal. This was done to strengthen the human rights of women who were being harassed or boycotted after being labelled as witches.
Madvi Hidma is the youngest member of the Central Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist). Hidma is allegedly responsible for various attacks on the security forces in Chhattisgarh, and the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley. A bounty has been placed for his capture.
The 2021 Sukma-Bijapur attack was an ambush carried out by the Naxalite-Maoist insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) against Indian security forces on 3 April 2021 at Sukma-Bijapur border near Jonaguda village which falls under Jagargunda police station area in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, leading to the killing of 22 security personnel and 9 Naxalites. The death toll was the worst for Indian security forces fighting the Naxalites since 2017.