The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad on Wednesday arrested a suspected Maoist who carried a reward of ₹50,000 on his head from outside the Bareilly railway station, a senior police officer said.
‘Inputs from activist’
The ATS claimed that the suspect, Kheem Singh Bora, was nabbed on the inputs of Manish Srivastava, an activist and professional translator, who, along with his wife Anita Srivastava, was recently arrested from Bhopal for alleged Maoist links.
Bora was arrested while travelling to Dhanbad to meet his associates, said Additional Director General, ATS, Aseem Arun.
A .315-bore countrymade pistol with five live cartridges, literature (yet to be legally examined), a pen drive and a jungle survival kit, including a folding knife, wire cutter, mosquito repellent cream, lighter, umbrella and a hand fan, were recovered from him, said the police.
Bora is allegedly known by several other aliases — Krishna, Prakash, Rajan, Prabhakar and Vijayprahrum.
A resident of Almora district of Uttarakhand, Bora was an active member of the banned Maoist Communist Centre of India since 2003 and even participated in a weapons training camp in the forests of Nainital in 2004, the police said.
Charges under UAPA
Bora faces four FIRs in Uttarakhand, including sedition, criminal conspiracy and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. From 1983 to 2003, he was active in various farmers’ and students’ movements before becoming the secretary of the zonal committee of the 3 USAC (Uttar Bihar-Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand Special Area Committee) of CPI (Maoist) in 2006.
Mr. Arun said Bora’s task was to propagate the Maoist ideology and recruit members from among farmers, youths, students and labourers.
Other charges against him include defacing walls in Uttarakhand with writings and posters on prohibition, jobs and migration, as well as his call for boycott of the State Assembly elections in 2012 and Lok Sabha election in 2014.
Bhopal arrests
The Srivastavas were arrested from their residence in Shahpur area of Bhopal earlier this month.
They were accused of living in the city “using false identities and documents”. The police are examining the literature and other materials recovered from them.
