Jitendar Oraon, the Maoist operative arrested from Angamaly on October 9, was the group commander of a local Maoist guerrilla squad in Jharkhand and wanted in several criminal cases including ambush on CRPF personnel, a police investigation has revealed.
P.P. Shams, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam Rural, said Oraon had become active with the outlawed organisation since 2002 by murdering one Jagadeesh, a resident of his home village Sarju. He had attended several arms training camps by the extremists at Choraha, Banduva, Karchu, Chachu and Godang villages in Jharkhand and was an expert in using weapons such as AK 47, 303 riffles, Self Loading Rifles and double-barrels, among others.
“Considering his commitment to finishing assignments, Oraon was anointed as the group commander of a local guerrilla squad under the People’s Liberation Army and had close links with several top CPI Maoist leaders including Bada Vikas Prabhat, Bharat, Sujith and Sudarshan,” the Dy.SP said.
In 2005, a guerrilla squad led by Oraon hit the Dabri CRPF camp in Sarju village, which left several CRPF personnel injured and was declared fugitive in a case registered at the Garu police station in this connection.
In 2008, he was part of another Maoist attack on CRPF personnel.
Oraon was also wanted in connection with the attack on policemen at the Makhanpur forests in 2010. He led the mine attack at Lavar picket post in which 11 policemen lost their lives.
He fled Jharkhand in 2011 and reached Vythiri in Wayanad and then moved to Angamaly, all the while maintaining close links with the Maoist leadership.
Oraon was arrested on a tip-off about him collecting mobile SIM cards for Maoist leaders by using fake address proofs.
Meanwhile, a police team from Jharkhand has reached Aluva to conduct further investigation in the case.
