Maoist Deepak, arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) from Coimbatore earlier this month, was associated with battalion-1, one of the most dreaded armed units of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), according to Chhattisgarh police.
Shalabh Sinha, Superintendent of Police, Sukma, told The Hindu over phone that Deepak was part of battalion-1 of PLGA, the military component of the CPI (Maoist), and he was active in Chhattisgarh till 2012.
According to Chhattisgarh police, Deepak, as he is called within the party, had been with the battalion-1 in Bastar, one of the most Maoist-affected areas in the country.
He is an expert in making explosives and has also worked with the communication wing of the central military committee (CMC), the military governing body of the CPI (Maoist) which is responsible for conducting guerrilla attacks and for buying and supplying arms.
Mr. Sinha had earlier confirmed that Deepak had a role in the April 6, 2010 ambush on Central Reserve Police Force in which 76 men were killed in Chintalnar village. As per the records with the Chhattisgarh police, Deepak’s original name is Ramlu Korsa, and he hails from Mankeli village of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh.
Aged 32, he was also associated with the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the CPI (Maoist), according to Chhattisgarh police. When picked up by the STF men from a forest near Anaikatti in Coimbatore on November 9, he had claimed that he was a central committee member of the PLGA.
Meanwhile, a special court in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh issued a warrant against him on November 15 in a case registered under Sections of the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act at Bhejji police station in 2012. The warrant directs the police to produce him before the court on November 26.
Police plea dismissed
On Tuesday, the Principal Sessions and District Court, Coimbatore, dismissed the petition filed by the district police seeking his custody for five days.
Bhavani B. Mohan, who appeared for him on behalf of the Centre for Protection of Civil Rights-Tamil Nadu, argued that there could be a threat to the life of the accused in police custody.
Though the court had issued an order on Tuesday noon directing the authorities of Coimbatore Central Priosn and the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) to permit Mr. Mohan and two others to meet Deepak, the police and the hospital did not allow them. On Tuesday evening, he was discharged from CMCH after treatment for injuries and shifted to prison.
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