The NIA has revealed that the Naxals are in the final stages of “fine-tuning and calibrating” technology to manufacture rocket-launchers. The NIA has been carrying out painstaking investigations over the last six-months into Naxals acquiring sophisticated weapons technology.
Highly placed intelligence sources said investigations have also revealed that the Maoists want to use these rocket-launchers not just against the paramilitary but also against the Army, which plans to open jungle warfare schools in the Naxal heartland.
It has also been learnt that Naxals have pumped in about `40 crore over the last 12 years to acquire technology for manufacturing rocket-launchers. The NIA was initially tipped off about the Naxals getting sophisticated weapons late last year. Then the arrest of Sadanala Ramakrishna, alias Techie Anna, the head of the Naxal technical committee, in March from Kolkata helped the NIA get more information on this aspect.
Techie Anna has informed the investigating agencies that the Naxals had already manufactured nearly 8,000 rocket-launchers but were unhappy with their quality as they were still a bit crude. But since then it has been learnt that the Naxals have made significant progress in rocket-launcher technology.
What is also bothering the intelligence agencies is that they have not been able to recover this huge cache of rocket-launchers. Sources said the agencies suspect that the Naxals have concealed the rocket launchers in Chhattisgarh, and Karjat in Maharashtra. “Our information is that Naxals have constructed special godowns to secure these rocket-launchers. But their location is still not known,” an intelligence official said.