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NIA begins probe into Maoist plan for expanding influence in Jharkhand, Bihar
The Bihar Police arrested a Central Committee member of the Maoists from Samahuta in Rohtas in the second week of April
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has started an investigation into the plans of arrested Maoist leader Vijay Kumar Arya to revive the activities of the CPI (Maoist) in parts of Bihar and Jharkhand.
The Bihar Police arrested Arya, a Central Committee member of the outfit, in his 60s, from Samahuta in Rohtas in the second week of April. NIA took over the probe into the activities of Arya and his associates of reviving Maoist insurgency by recruiting new members and collecting levies, etc.
In its First Information Report filed last week, NIA named Rajesh Gupta, Umesh Chaudhary, Anil Yadav, and Rupesh Kumar Singh along with Arya.
The Bihar Police recovered electronic gadgets such as hard disks, pen drives, letterheads, and levy receipts from Arya, who was arrested on the basis of inputs from the central and state intelligence agencies about the presence of top Maoist leaders in Bihar’s Shahabad and Magadh zones.
A resident of Karma in the Gaya district, Arya is a postgraduate in economics from Magadh University. He worked as a lecturer before joining the Maoist Communist Centre of India in 2004. Police said he became an active member of the group and spread Maoist ideologies. He carried a ₹3 lakh reward on his head.
Arya was earlier arrested in 2011 from Bihar’s Katihar district and was lodged in Gaya, Bhagalpur, and Andhra Pradesh jails. He was released on bail in 2018 when he went underground and was allegedly reorganising the Maoist structure in Bihar and Jharkhand, police said last month.
Maoist insurgency is now limited to 10 districts of Rohtas, Kaimur, Gaya, Nawada, Jamui, Lakhisarai, Aurangabad, Banka, Munger, and West Champaran in Bihar.
