Maoists blow up railway track in Jharkhand

Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres protesting against “Police atrocities” blew up a section of railway track in Bokaro District on October 10, reports ianslive.in. The incident occurred between Jogeshwar Bihar and Tilaya stations, around 140 kilometres from Ranchi.

Meanwhile, Khunti Police, during a combing operation arrested PLFI ‘area commander’ Kishan Kandulna alias Bangali, and his four aides from Banbira forests in Khunti District on October 11, reportsThe Telegraph. Superintendent of Police (SP) Anish Gupta said Bangali was a native of Alipurduar in north Bengal who was recently asked to lead the PLFI in the Rania-Kamdara belt and neighbouring areas of Khunti and Simdega Districts after the arrest of Ganpat Bhuiyan. “The arrests were made around 3.30am following a tip-off. Police recovered a 315-bore rifle, a double-barrel gun, an 8mm pistol and a .32 pistol, besides nine live cartridges and six mobile phones,” SP Gupta added. Bangali’s other associates have been identified as Dukhiya Topno of Simdega District, and Sagen Topno, Robin Topno and Kamal Lohra who are from Rania in Khunti. PLFI is a splinter group of the CPI-Maoist.

Separately, a Maoist, accused of killing Amarjeet Balihar, SP of Pakur District, has been arrested along with two of his associates in Dumka District on October 8, reports Business Standard. A senior Police officer said the ultra, identified as Kanchan da alias Kanchan Yadav, was carrying INR one million cash reward on his head. He was suspected of killing Balihar and five other Policemen in Pakur District in June 2013. Kanchan and his associates were arrested in Dumka District on October 8, a Jharkhand Police press release said.

In another incident, Narayan Yadav (24), actively associated with the CPI-Maoist, was arrested from Lawadag in Palamau District on October 10, reports The Telegraph. Yadav, who was entrusted with the task of collecting information about the movement of Security Forces (SFs) in Maoist-hit Kalapahar where seven Policemen were killed in a landmine blast in January, was arrested when he was trying to put up posters of a two-day statewide Maoist bandh (general shutdown) beginning on October 10. Police have recovered Maoist literature and posters from him. Chhatarpur Police Station, Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Law Kumar Singh said that Narayan had been closely associated with Maoist commanders Nitesh and Ajay Yadav. “About four days ago, we had spotted him pasting bandh posters at Chhatarpur bus stand. But, he somehow escaped. He was long been on our radar,” he said. The officer said that two cases, including one related to violation of Arms Act, were pending against him. “He was actively associated with CPI (Maoist) since the last four years. His elder brother Vishwanath Yadav was an active cadre of CPI (Maoist) who died during an encounter in 2010,” said Singh. During interrogation, Narayan said that he had passed on details about the movement of SFs in Kalapahar to the Maoists. “Yadav was in regular touch with Maoist commander Ajay who along with Nitesh and another accomplice Mithilesh was involved in carrying out the attack,” said Chhatarpur, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Sanjay Kumar. The SDPO added that few days before the blast, Maoists had blown up a BSNL tower in Kalapahar. “In that incident too, Narayan had passed on vital information about police movement to Maoists,” he said.

In another development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has started the process of freezing bank accounts of Parmeshwar Ganjhu, a wanted Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) leader operating in Chatra District, in a concentrated effort to squeeze financial resources of the rebel outfit that has been minting money through extortion and proxy contracts, reports The Telegraph. Highly placed sources in the directorate revealed that the freeze order was issued to the bank concerned in that District on October 7. Parmeshwar, his wife Yashoda Devi and brother Arjun individually hold as many as eight accounts. While the rebel leader has three accounts with the Tandwa branch of Bank of India, Yashoda has two and Arjun, like his brother, three. The ED has directed the bank to provide transaction details of all these eight accounts, the source said. In addition, the directorate has rushed letters to other banks in Chatra, seeking account details of 13 other notorious TPC members, including Gopal Singh Bhoktaalias Brajesh Ganjhu, Mukesh Ganjhu, Kohram, Akraman, Bindeshwar alias Bindu Ganjhu, Binod Ganjhu and Bhikhan Ganjhu. “Of these 13, we have received bank account details of some. We need the rest to choke the outfit’s all financial arteries,” said a senior official of the directorate. It is the first time in Jharkhand that the ED is investigating a money laundering case against a Naxalite [Left Wing Extremism (LWE)] outfit. TPC is a splinter group of the CPI-Maoist.

Source: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=10/12/2016&id=4#4