CPI (Maoist) rebels trying to revive outfit in Bihar’s Magadh zone, says NIA probe report

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe report suggested that CPI (Maoist) rebels trying have trying to revive the outfit's activities in Bihar’s Magadh zone.

New Delhi: A probe conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has revealed that CPI (Maoist) has been trying to revive the outfit in the Magadh Zone of Bihar. “The NIA investigations so far have revealed that the proscribed organisation, CPI (Maoist), was trying to raise funds for procurement of arms and ammunition and recruitment of new cadres to further its criminal and violent designs for reviving itself in the Magadh Zone area. They were establishing links with Maoists and Over Ground Workers (OWGs) incarcerated in various jails in order to revive and strengthen Maoist activities in this region of Bihar,” a senior NIA official told ETV Bharat.

On Friday, NIA arrested Anandi Paswan alias Anand Paswan, in the CPI (Maoist) terror funding case in connection with efforts being made for the revival of the banned outfit in Magadh Zone of Bihar. Earlier, more than five criminal cases had been registered against Paswan in different police stations in Bihar. “Raids were conducted on the residential premises of Paswan, a resident of Nirakhpur village in Arwal district of Bihar,” the NIA official said.

Significantly, this was the fourth arrest in the case (RC-05/2021/NIA-RNC), related to the terror financing network being jointly operated by CPI (Maoist) cadres and Over Ground Workers (OGWs) in the Magadh region. Tarun Kumar, Pradyuman Sharma and Abhinav alias Gaurav were earlier nabbed by the NIA, which had charge-sheeted two accused in this case on January 20.

The revival of the Magadh zone has been on the agenda of Maoists for a long time. The Magadh zone in Bihar was always a hotbed of Maoist activities, but following intensified anti-Maoist operations carried out by the security agencies, the ultras found it difficult to operate their activities. The Magadh zone where the Maoists were attempting a revival plan comprises Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad and Nawada districts. It has been a known hotbed for Maoist activities due to the dense forest cover. “To fund their movement, the Maoists were raising funds through the production and smuggling of contrabands. Farming of marijuana and opium on a large scale in these districts,” the NIA official said.

In another development, NIA on Monday conducted a series of raids across four districts of Kashmir as part of its continuing investigations into the conspiracy of the newly-floated offshoots of proscribed Pakistan-backed terrorist outfits to destabilise J&K.

Twelve locations in the four districts of Kulgam, Bandipora, Shopian and Pulwama were raided as part of the crackdown. The locations were residential premises of hybrid terrorists and Overground Workers (OGW) linked with the newly-formed offshoots and affiliates of the banned terrorist outfits. Premises of sympathisers and cadres of these organisations were also searched extensively in the raids, an official said.

Several digital devices containing large volumes of incriminating data have been recovered by NIA in these searches. “A thorough scrutiny will be conducted by the agency to unravel the details of the terrorist conspiracy, which the NIA started investigating a year ago after registering a suo moto case (RC-05/2022/NIA/JMU) on June 21 last year,” the official said.

The newly floated terror outfits being probed by the NIA include The Resistance Front (TRF), United Liberation Front Jammu & Kashmir (ULFJ&K), Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind (MGH), Jammu & Kashmir Freedom Fighters (JKFF), Kashmir Tigers, PAAF and others. These outfits are affiliated with Pak-backed organisations like Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and Al-Badr, Al-Qaeda, which have been banned by the Government of India.

“The cadres and workers whose premises were raided are under the NIA’s scanner for their involvement in the collection and distribution of sticky and magnetic bombs, IEDs, funds, narcotic substances and arms and ammunition. They have been engaged in spreading activities relating to terror, violence and subversion in J&K, according to the NIA investigations,” the official said.

The terror conspiracy under investigation relates to plotting by the banned outfits in both physical and cyberspace to unleash violent terrorist attacks in J&K with sticky bombs, IEDs and small arms. The organisations, supported by their masters in Pakistan, have been conspiring to commit acts of terror and violence, by radicalising local youth and mobilising overground workers, to disturb the peace and communal harmony in J&K, the official said.