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Kolkata fuelling Maoist run in Chhattisgarh: STF
The Maoists' domination in their self-labelled liberated zone in Chhattisgarh is being aided and controlled from Kolkata, according to special task force (STF) officials of Kolkata Police.
The Maoists' domination in their self-labelled liberated zone in Chhattisgarh is being aided and controlled from Kolkata, according to special task force (STF) officials of Kolkata Police.
"What's more, at any point in time, two to three top leaders of the banned CPI(Maoist) are staying in Kolkata and its suburbs," said an STF official who did not want to be named.
The police have found that uniforms, materials for explosives and parts of weapons are being transported in trucks from Kolkata to the Maoists to help them continue their hold on parts of Dantewada and Bijapur districts in south Bastar.
On Sunday, the STF and Chhattisgarh police had raided transport company warehouses in Raipur and seized supplies sent from Kolkata.
Special intelligence bureau deputy inspector general Vivekanand Sinha said the materials could be used to make heavy weapons. The consignment was lying unattended since October last year.
Police got leads on the warehouses after arresting five Maoists including the reported chief of the Maoists' technical wing, Sadanala Ramakrishna, from Kolkata on February 29. One of the arrested Maoists, Dipak Pargana, hails from Chhattisgarh's steel city Bhilai.
"We are getting indications that Chhattisgarh's Maoist heartland is being fed with supplies and controlled from Kolkata," said a West Bengal home department official.
According to intelligence officials, many important decisions executed by Maoists in Chhattisgarh in recent years were taken in Kolkata.
Police believe Maoists are tapping the workshops in Howrah and Hooghly to get parts of rifles and explosives made.
According to the STF official, the parts are transported separately - to prevent the police from assessing the end use - and rebels assemble them in their Chhattisgarh stronghold.
(With inputs from Ejaz Kaiser, Raipur)
