Maoists pitted communities against each other in Maharashtra for 4 months: Intel

The outfit has organised at least 23 meetings in various parts of Mumbai in the same period

Seeking its revival by targeting the disadvantaged groups, the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) has instigated people and pitted various communities against each other across Maharashtra in the last four months, according to an intelligence report submitted to the Mumbai police. The outfit has organised at least 23 meetings in various parts of Mumbai in the same period.

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The report pointed out that the Maoists were responsible for stoking violence, including the Bhima-Koregaon earlier in the month, in the state.

The report was given to the Mumbai police five days before the Bhima-Koregaon violence. A senior IPS officer said Maoist sympathisers targeted mostly youth. “The group fuelled hatred between Dalits and Marathas to push their anti-state ideologies,” said the officer.

Under the 50th anniversary of Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the group released Maoist literature.

”We have to mobilise Dalits, Adivasis, religious minorities and democratic forces against Fascism and form a united front at various levels,” read a Maoist bulletin which was circulated among people.

Another document chastised well-off castes for demanding reservations in jobs and employment and blames the government for its ‘anti-farmer’ policies.

Custody of 7 suspected CPI (Maoist) members extended

The sessions court on Tuesday extended police custody till January 22 of seven people arrested by the Maharashtra ATS over suspicion of being members of the banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist). The ATS had on Saturday arrested Ajay Datri alias Krushna alias Venugopal from Kalyan station. The arrest of Datri led the ATS to arrest six others. On Tuesday, the prosecution told the court the accused were planning to do “something.” However, the agency did not reveal the exact nature of the alleged conspiracy, but said they need to further probe them. The ATS also said they need to translate and decipher the literature recovered from Datri.

(With inputs from Charul P Shah)