Buckle up against jailbreak plans, Centre to tell states

The Centre will ask left wing extremism- affected states to be on guard against attempts by Maoists to free their leaders and cadres from jail, particularly in Bihar and Jharkhand.

The Centre will ask left wing extremism- affected states to be on guard against attempts by Maoists to free their leaders and cadres from jail, particularly in Bihar and Jharkhand.

The move follows an HT report — “Get jailed Maoists out by hook or by crook, says Ganapathy” — on seizure of documents from the guerrillas that revealed CPI (Maoist) general secretary Ganapathy had told cadres to leave no stone unturned to free jailed Maoist leaders.

Sources said the central government had sought details of the documents — seized by Maharashtra police — that asked Maoists to free leaders from jails and expand the organisation within jails while inside.

A large number of Maoist leaders and cadres are behind bars. Seized documents from a Maoist leader who heads its frontal organisations in Delhi suggested that such imprisonment had begun to pinch them.

Referring to a recent arrest of a Maoist functionary, the leader — who used the pseudonym, Prakash — said in a letter to the leadership: “The situation has made our organisation and many activities around our organisation difficult to go ahead (sic)”.

“Without the guidance of the (CPI-Maoist) central committee, it is most difficult for an all India organisation to take up important steps,” the August 1 letter said, pointing how funding from the central Maoist leadership had reduced to a trickle forcing them to take a Rs 2.5 lakh loan to continue their activities.

Listing out the requirements of the frontal organisation, Prakash asked for a minimum of `13 lakh to meet various urgent needs and activities. “Every passing day brings in new expenditure,” he said.