Mudigere, Feb 17: Unidentified miscreants hurled bottles, suspected to be petrol bombs, at the forest department check-post at Basarikal in Kudremukh today morning.
No one was injured in the attack. A few pages of the log book were burned in the fire. Police prima facie ruled out an attack by Maoists, who are active in the area, though combing operations are on.
The bottles were found to contain a mixture of kerosene and turpentine oil and were perhaps meant to explode like Molotov cocktails. But only one of the bottles caught fire, and that too as it broke on hitting the ground.
The attack took place at 3am when there were two forest department personnel at the checkpost. Fearing a Naxalite attack – the area is dominated by Maoists – the duo stay put and alerted police only in the morning. The area falls under the Kudremukh police limits. Following the incident, the Anti Naxal Force intensified combing operations in the area.
Chikkamagaluru superintended of police Harish Pandey said the assailants had tried to scare the staff by making the bottles look like petrol bombs. “Barring one, the bottles did not catch fire. A couple of pages of the vehicle entry and exit log book were damaged. The attackers threw all bottles from behind the checkpost,” he said.
Pandey said a temple car festival was held on Sunday in nearby Kalasa town and many outsiders were attending it. “We are keeping a close vigil on the developments,” he said.
The SP added that so far, there was no proof of involvement of Maoists. “We are probing the case from all angles. Generally, after such an act, Naxals either leave pamphlets or say they were responsible for the incident. Till now, no one claimed responsibility. If there is no propaganda, there is no value in it for Maoists.” Kudremukh police also suspect personal rivalry might have led to the incident.
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