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Maoist network busted in U.P.

Atiq Khan

LUCKNOW: In a top-secret operation, eight activists of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), including two members of its central committee and polit bureau, were arrested by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh police in Kanpur on Monday.

A half-truckload of printed material, a number of CDs, a pen drive, Rs. 8.16 lakh in cash and a fake driving licence were seized from them, Director-General of Police Karamveer Singh, told journalists here.

Among the arrested is Balraj alias B.R. alias Arvind, head of the northern regional bureau of the CPI (Maoist) and Central Committee member and associate of Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy. Mr. Singh said Balraj’s name surfaced in Kobad Ghandy’s disclosure statement following his arrest in Maharashtra in September 2009. He was involved in naxal violence in other States.

The others arrested are Banshidhar alias Chintan Da, another polit bureau member; Naveen Prasad Singh, Ambrish, Deepak Ram, Shivraj Singh alias Arjun, Rajendra Kumar Phulara alias Arvind and Kripa Shankar alias Manoj. A Ph.D and M.Phil. holder from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Chintan had spent three years in jail, the DGP said. Both he and Balraj, a B.Sc. graduate, belong to Bihar.

On Sunday, three other suspected activists, Vishwa Vijay, Seema Srivastava and Asha Munda were arrested in Allahabad and Gorakhpur.

The DGP said the CPI (Maoist) had been spreading its network in Uttar Pradesh and had obtained feedback about the activities of its members a couple of months ago. Asked how the arrests were made in Kanpur considering that naxalites were generally active in rural areas, Mr. Singh said the eight had come there to attend a meeting and collect the printed material.

According to the DGP, the Maoists divided the country into regional bureaus for their activities. The northern bureau comprised northern (uttar) Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand (called the “3Us”), Haryana, Punjab and the Jammu region. He said Uttar Pradesh was divided into two parts — the southeast comprising Mirzapur, Chandauli and Sonebhadra; and the rest of the State.

Arrests significant

K. Srinivas Reddy reports from Hyderabad:

The arrests are significant, as interrogation of arrested Maoist leaders has thrown light on the rebel activity across all States. More important was the revelation of strengthening of Maoist activity in Uttar Pradesh, hitherto believed to have been “not much affected” by Left-wing extremism. Sources were disinclined to disclose details but indicated that simultaneous raids were held by the Uttar Pradesh police on the information provided by their colleagues in Andhra Pradesh.

Chintan, who had been released from a Bihar jail some three months ago, had gone underground again. He was earlier arrested in 2006. Chintan is such an important leader that the CPI (Maoist) waived, in his case, the rule of not taking back any arrested leader into the party fold without keeping him under observation for at least one year.

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