NIA's most-wanted Maoist leader 'Kishore Da' held in West Bengal’s Purulia

Sabyasachi Goswami a.k.a. 'Kishore Da', who hails from Ghola area in North 24 Parganas district, was earlier active in the Northeastern sector, especially in Assam. The NIA announced an award of Rs 10 lakh on him.

Kolkata: In a vital breakthrough, the West Bengal Police have arrested the most-wanted CPI(Maoist) central committee member Sabyasachi Goswami a.k.a. 'Kishore Da', who featured in the most-wanted list of NIA for his role in resurrecting Left Wing Extremism in Assam-Bengal corridor, in what can be seen as a major success in foiling fresh attempts to resurrect Naxalite insurgency in certain pockets of the state.

Sources from the state police said that Goswami was arrested by a special team of cops from a secret location in Purulia district late Thursday night. He will be presented at a district court in Purulia on Friday afternoon and the public prosecutor will seek his police custody for further interrogation, sources added.

Sources said Goswami is also in the list of most-wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the latter had even announced an award of Rs 10 lakh on him. An resident of Ghola area in North 24 Parganas district, Goswami was earlier active in the Northeastern sector, especially in Assam.

It is learnt that in March 2022, a case was registered in Guwahati on Maoists attempts to create a red-corridor in the entire Northeastern India and that point of time Goswami’s name surfaced. Soon after that NIA announced the award on him.This is not the first time that Goswami has been arrested by any security agency.

He was first arrested by NIA from the Golaghat area in Assam in 2021. Prior to that, he was also arrested a number of times in 2018, 2013 and 2005 by the special task force of West Bengal Police. However, every time he managed to get released on bail because of weak evidence presented against him and each time after his release he went underground. After his last arrest in 2021, the police forces of different states as well as NIA tried to nab him though he managed to give the agency a slip each time.

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