Unable to get photographs of top Naxal leaders, security forces in the country's Maoist hotbeds are being provided with sketches of these ultras.

Government said on Friday that it has the legitimate right to use as much force as necessary to regain control of areas dominated by the Maoists, and made it clear that talks with it could only take place if the ultras abjured violence.

A female Maoist cadre, who surrendered in Orissa’s Keonjhar district, has exposed the rot that has set in within the Naxal cadres.

School teacher and CPI (M) leader Ranjit Duley, kidnapped by Maoists at gunpoint from a school in Bankura district on March 4, was released unharmed in West Midnapore district early on Tuesday, police said.

The 48-hour deadline set by Maoists for the life of abducted school principal, Ranjit Duley, ends today. The Naxals have demanded the immediate release of six of their comrades arrested by the police recently in exchange for releasing Duley.