Police arrest seven Maoists in Jharkhand

Ranchi, Aug.15 (ANI): Acting on a tip off, Jharkhand Police have arrested seven Maoists and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition in a daring raid conducted near the state capital Ranchi on Sunday.

The seven Maoists are members of the banned People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI). They were nabbed from their hideout in the forest ranges of Namkum and Jatisilvey near Ranchi.

Personnel from the Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) and the district police conducted the operation jointly.

Identifying the arrested ultras, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ranchi, Saket Kumar Singh, hailed it as a major success in the crackdown on Maoist insurgency.

"They have been identified as Tulsi Pahan, Kishore Munda, Shivanarayan Mahato, Subhash Ram, Avdhit Mahato, Naseem Ansari and Marwadi. Tulsi Pahan was the area commander," said Singh.

The police also seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the rebels, besides Maoist literature.

According to police, a rifle, three pistols, several cartridges and bullets, and cellular phone sets were recovered from the ultras. A PLFI letter pad was also apprehended from the arrested rebels.

Singh said the arrested ultras were involved in a string of cases pertaining to extortion and violence.

"This group had been operating in this area since the past two months. They were also involved in pasting Maoist posters in the area. Several of these posters and letters were prepared from a letter pad seized from these ultras. If you notice, ten pages from this letter pad have been torn off, indicating they had been used in at least ten places,"dded Singh.

Maoists have gripped nearly one-third of the country in their violent tentacles, spreading into the interiors of 20 of India's 28 states.

The guerrilla war, waged mostly from the forests of central and eastern India by ultras of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist, now poses the biggest internal security challenge, say analysts.

Hundreds of people have been killed and injured in the violence perpetrated by the rebels as well as in counter-insurgency operations by the security forces.

Maoists have also significantly increased their presence in tribal and rural regions in the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa. (ANI)