The National Investigative Agency (NIA) has taken over the investigation pertaining to revival of Maoist (Naxal) insurgencies in Purvanchal region from the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (UP ATS). The development occurred after the Lucknow-based NIA office registered a fresh FIR in the case and started its investigation into the matter.
According to the reports, after taking over the investigation, the federal agency will investigate the Maoist urban network operating in several cities of Uttar Pradesh, including Azamgarh, Varanasi, Chandauli, Balia, Deoria, Prayagraj and others.
Earlier, the NIA team had also raided several locations in the state in connection with the Maoist plot to revive the insurgency in the Purvanchal region on September 5.
It is to be noted that the NIA investigation into the matter commenced months after the UP ATS, in a significant development, nabbed as many as five active cadres of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) from Basantpur village under Sahatwar police station, a bordering region under the Ballia district, on Wednesday August 16.
The arrest of the Maoists from the Purvanchal region, which is otherwise considered free from left-wing insurgency, stormed the police department as it was revealed that the arrested cadres were indulged in augmenting the footprints of the proscribed group in the region by recruiting youths from Ballia and adjoining regions.
According to the details, the UP ATS then raided and apprehended notorious female Maoist cadre Tara Devi alias Manju alias Manisha alongside arresting Lallu Ram, Satyaprakash, Ram Murat and Vinod Sahni. The ATS team had also recovered a 9mm pistol, cartridges and extremist communist literature from the possession of the accused.
Following the arrest of the Maoist, Prashant Kumar, ADG, law and order UP said that the group was working to recruit the youths, their group’s expansion and conspiring to spread unrest in the country. He had further said that after the demise of the Central Committee member Sandeep Yadav Aka Badka Bhaiya, one Pramod Mishra formed a separate ad hoc group along with Santosh Verma, a resident of Ballia as its secretary to further the Maoist movement in the region.
It was then also reported that the said group regularly kept moving in different districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and was recruiting young men and women by brainwashing them for an armed rebellion against the government of India.
Arrest of Tara Devi alias Manisha
It is pertinent to mention here that one of the arrested cadres, Tara Devi was reported to be the head of the women’s wing in the outfit who was involved in recruiting youths and extorting money for the banned outfit. It should be noted that Tara has been considered a seasoned Maoist who was also involved in the infamous Madhuban dacoity case carried out by the cadres of outlawed CPI Maoists, in which two policemen were killed.
She was associated with the Maoist group since 2005 and is reported to have been trained in jungle warfare. She had been providing shelter to senior Maoist leader Pramod Mishra, organising party membership drives, and raising money for the prescribed outfit.
Arrest of Pramod Mishra
Let us inform you that the arrest of the Maoist from Ballia occurred days after another senior member of the outlawed CPI Maoist, Pramod Mishra was arrested in a swift operation launched by a joint team of Bihar police in Gaya district on August 10 this year. Mishra, a member of the central committee of the outlawed outfit was arrested along with his associate Anil Yadav from Tikari Subdivision of Gaya.
After the arrest of Mishra, it was revealed that he was working as the bureau chief of the Eastern Regional Bureau of the outlawed CPI Maoist and was assigned with the task of reviving the Maoist insurgency in the Bihar and Jharkhand region.
It is to be noted that Mishra joined the left-wing insurgency in 90s and rose to the ranks in the erstwhile Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), a far left extremist group responsible for wide scale violence, operating mainly in undivided Bihar. After the merger of the group with the People’s War Group in 2004, Mishra was promoted as a central committee member of the newly formed CPI Maoist.
