New Delhi/West Bengal/Assam: A prominent Maoist leader's arrest in West Bengal has rung alarm bells in the security grid with the country's premier investigating agency claiming the ultra-left rebels are trying to shift their base from the jungles of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh to the hills of Assam and other North-Eastern states.
The arrest of Samrat Chakraborty, a senior Maoist leader, in Kalyani Expressway area in North 24 Parganas district on Monday night and the preceding arrests made by the National Investigation Agency in the last few months have opened the pandora's box with the agency claiming the rebels are on the move.
"The Maoists are trying to make their bases in some pockets of Cachar and Karimganj districts in the Barak Valley districts of Assam. They are also trying to make bases in some selected pockets of upper Assam districts including Dibrugarh, Golaghat among others," the NIA said in its initial report submitted to the Home Ministry.
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The revelation came to the fore in March this year when NIA arrested CPI (Maoist) leader and a member of its central committee, Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee, known by his nom de guerre 'Kanchan Da', in Cachar district of Assam. He was arrested from a tea garden under Udharbond police station on March 6 evening along with one of his associates Akash Orang alias Rahul.
According to sources in the Assam police, his job was also to organise state party congress, recruit local cadres and purchase weapons in the state. Police then seized one laptop, a mobile phone, and a huge number of incriminating documents. Though police claimed that Kanchan Da's arrest was a major step in clipping the wings of the Maoist expansion in North East, the arrest made by NIA on Monday triggered the apprehension that the ultras are present in the most vulnerable zone of the country.
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The 37-year-old Maoist youth leader Samrat Chakraborty was an active member of CPI (Maoist) in West Bengal. He was a linkman in clandestine communication between the top hierarchy of the organization and the arrested accused Kanchan Da who was operating from his hideout in Assam. He visited Cachar district of Assam on several occasions to assist the senior Maoist leader.
The NIA report claimed that there has been a steady growth of such banned outfits in Assam and its adjacent states. “It's a fact that following a massive anti-Maoist operation being launched by the security agencies in several states across India especially Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha, the Maoists are searching for new bases in other parts of the country,” the report said.
A senior official in the Home Ministry told ETV Bharat that they were in constant touch with the Assam government over the development. “The growth of Maoists in Assam and North East is an alarming sign because this would give them easy access to neighbouring countries. It would be easier for them to carry on with their activities. We need to stop this immediately,” the MHA official said.
