Intensifying its operations against the Maoists, Bihar Police on Thursday arrested seven Naxals suspected to be involved in the derailment of the Bhubaneswar-Delhi Rajdhani express and the attack on a toll plaza in Gaya district.
According to Gaya SP Mr. Sushil Khopde, the seven suspects responsible for the attacks were picked off from Bacharia village in Gaya district.
In another incident on Friday night, armed Maoist guerrillas blew up under construction buildings of a block office and a police station at Tilothu in Rohtas district.
The rebels also torched 12 trucks of a road construction company.
Earlier in the day, a Maoist den was raided by a composite team of Central Reserve Police forces, the Bihar Military Police (BMP), the Special task Force (STF) and the district police in the Tarchua area of Jamui district.
A bunker was demolished in the process and a large cache of ammunition was seized.
According to information obtained from Police Headquarters, there were a total of 1,117 incidents of Naxal violence between 2001-04, which notably reduced to 338 between 2006 and 2009 - after the Nitish Kumar Government came to power.
The records also indicate heightened efficiency on part of Mr. Kumar’s Government in tackling the Naxal menace, as compared to the erstwhile RJD regime under the chief ministerships of Rabri Devi and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
As per the records, 160 civilians had been killed while 1881 Naxals had been arrested between 2006-09 as compared to 668 civilian deaths and 1160 Naxal arrests during the RJD regime from 2001-04.
“We have recovered 62,841 explosives and 98,872 detonators between 2006 and 2009,” stated Bihar DGP Mr. Neelmani.
He also said that during the 2009 anti-crime drive in the State, as many as 11,555 detonators, 36,848 Kilos of explosives and 69 (41 of them being in Munger alone) mini-gun factories had been unearthed.
In addition, the Bihar Government last week that it would be posting a Deputy Commandant of the Assam Rifles and 5 Deputy Commandants of the BSF as Additional Superintendents (Operations) in the Naxal afflicted districts of Jamui, Bhabua, Gaya, Nawada, Rohtas and Aurangabad districts.