Mysterious drone flights keep Gadchiroli cops on toes

Nagpur: Unexplained movements in air space near police stations have become reason of prime concern in the highly sensitive Maoist-affected south Gadchiroli for the last one month.
On Saturday too, a drone was spotted near police stations of Jimulgatta, Repanpalli and Zinganoor, with cops no closer to finding is source or motive. Sources said the top brass is engaged in analysing the latest tactics of the rival camp in the guerrilla zone.
The cops had to also fire ‘warning shots’ at Jimulgatta as the drone was heading towards the police post.After shots were fired at it, the drone had started to drift away. The drone kept circling in the air above the village for some time before going away. But the incident had left the cops on high alert mode.
Sources from the district said drones were spotted at Repanpalli and Zinganoor too but cops refrained from firing at them as they were at some distance from the police post.
SP Ankit Goyal said police are analysing various aspects like flight paths, timing, heights and such issues. “We would first study and then reach a conclusion regarding the drones,” he said.
Drones were spotted for the first time at Gatta on September 14 and later at different other posts like Koti, Kotmi, Hedri and Burgi. Cops had fired warning shots then too. “It seemed Maoists were conducting recce of the places with the help of the drones around police posts and also in villages,” said a source in the security agency.
Sources in the police department said Maoists had tried to launch drone attack on security forces in the past too in Chhattisgarh. After several setbacks in the district, police sources said the Maoists are now trying to make a comeback with some casualties and drones may be part of such sabotage activities.