Camp to be set up on Burha Pahar for anti-Maoist ops
The Jharkhand government will set up a security camp atop Burha Pahar in Latehar district, which has become a bastion of the CPI (Maoist) with its top leaders, such as Arvindji and Sudhakaran, hiding there.
The Jharkhand government will set up a security camp atop Burha Pahar in Latehar district, which has become a bastion of the CPI (Maoist) with its top leaders, such as Arvindji and Sudhakaran, hiding there.
Dev Kumar Singh alias Arvindji carries a reward of `1 crore. Sudhakaran came to Jharkhand from Andhra Pradesh early this year to help Maoists regain control over the bases smashed by security forces, police said.
“Burha Pahar that has become a synonym for Naxalism will soon be under police control. Security forces will set up a camp there,” state’s chief secretary Rajbala Verma said on Thursday at Latehar, praising the forces for their offensives against the Maoists in the region.
In the last one and a half years, police, CoBRA, an elite paramilitary strike force, and central paramilitary personnel have been raiding Maoist hideouts in the Burha Pahar area, located on the Jharkhand- Chhattisgarh border.
“The joint operation from Latehar and Garhwa in Jharkhand, and Balrampur in Chhattisgarh has been launched to flush out Maoists, including Arvind and Sudharkaran, holed up there (Burha Pahar),” Latehar superintendent of police Anoop Birtharay said on Friday, refusing to disclose details about the operation.
Forces are on alert as Maoists prepare to observe a week-long foundation day of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army, the military wing of CPI (Maoist), from December 2, police said.
The tough terrain of Burha Pahar area makes the operation difficult for the forces who recently gunned down six Maoists in an encounter.
Facing security forces’ offensives, the CPI (Maoists) shifted their base from Saryu, a zonal headquarters of the extremists, to Laat in Latehar district, and then to Burha Pahar in 2015.