UP cracks down on Maoists, top leaders held

The Uttar Pradesh police on Monday claimed to have made a major breakthrough in its anti-Maoist tirade after the arrest of 10 alleged Naxals from different parts of the state over the last 24 hours.

State director general of police Karamveer Singh said, "With the arrest of as many as 10 Maoist leaders from different parts of the state over the past 24 hours, we have pushed them at least 10 years behind."

Eight top Maoists were arrested by the state's Special Task Force (STF) from Kanpur on Monday while two were taken into custody from Gorakhpur and Allahabad on Sunday. Those arrested on Sunday were People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) state secretary Seema Azad and her husband Vishwa Vijay, a PUCL activist as well.

Even as PUCL leaders took strong offence to these arrest of the couple, terming the STF action a "frame-up" , the state police chief claimed, "This group of Maoists had plans to unleash major violence and make strikes at different places in UP and Uttarakhand, where they were also planning a heavy anti-India propaganda blitz."

According to him, "The arrested persons were in Kanpur to get seditious literature printed." He said, "We have enough evidence to establish that this particular group had been involved in repeated strikes in different places in Bihar, including killing of special armed guards in Raniganj and Gaya, besides murder of a railway employee at Jha-jha railway station."   

Describing the arrested persons as activists of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), Karamveer Singh alleged, "There was enough reason to believe that they were plotting against the state." 

He also suspects their nexus with Maoists engaged in anti-India campaign in Nepal. "We will also be probe their connections with Maoists in Nepal."
 
The arrested were identified as 51-year old  Balraj alias Baccha Prasad, a resident of Chapra district (Bihar) who was an alleged member of the banned outfit's  central committee and its politburo, Chintan alias Banshi Dhar Singh, (64) hailing from Champaran, Bihar, Naveen Prasad Singh, 54, a resident of Patna, who was also a member of Bihar zonal committee and convenor of Tactical United Front of CPI (Maoist).

Among the others were Ambareesh (40), resident of Banka, Bihar, who was a member of UP state organising committee, Deepak (24), resident of Samastipur, Kripa Shankar (35) hailing from Kushinagar, besides Shiv Raj Singh (66) and  Rajendra Kumar (33), based in Uttarakhand.

While Balraj was described as a science graduate, Chintan holds a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and was regarded as the organisation's think-tank.

Police have seized seditious literature, CDs, pen drive, Rs8.16 lakh from the arrested persons.

When the DGP's attention was drawn to PUCLs outcry against the arrests, he shot back, "Those sympathizing with the arrested persons and trying to label them as social workers ought to realize that they were running the risk of associating with anti-nationals."

Retired IPS officer S R Darapuri, who was state vice president of PUCL, proposes to lead a protest demonstration against the arrests in Lucknow on February 13.

Expressing shock over the arrest of  PUCL activists Seema Azad and her husband Vishwa Vijay, he asserted, "Possessing Maoist literature was no crime. Cops have been targeting human rights activists and branding them as Maoists; we will oppose such oppression tooth and nail."