Local informers help cops tackle Naxal menace

“Regular interaction with people in the villages bordering Bihar,Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh,helping them in procuring their basic day-to-day requirement and guiding the youth to get jobs have helped us in laying hands on the Naxals,” said Sonbhadra SP Preetinder Singh. Besides,proper coordination with the Jharkhand and Bihar Police has also helped in tracing the Naxals,he added.

“The process of selection of special police officers is still on,but we are keeping their identity a secret. We are following measures to locate the right persons who would really be helpful in anti-Naxal operations,” said Singh.

With the arrest of Kael Chero alias Doctor — a Naxal who carried Rs 2,500 reward on his head — on Wednesday night,the number of Naxals arrested in Sonbhadra district reached eight in the last four months. Chero was an active member of the Munna Vishwakarma group.

A native of Rohtas in Bihar,he was arrested from Kon area,said the SP.

According to Singh,information from local sources had helped the police in killing Naxal leader Kamlesh Chaudhary — carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh from Uttar Pradesh and Rs 50,000 from Bihar on his head. He was gunned down on November 9,2009.

The police had been on the lookout for Chaudhary — a Rohtas-based sub-zonal commander — for the last 17 years. He had 21 cases pending in Rohtas and 16 in Sonbhadra.

Chaudhary was a petty criminal of Chiutia area of Rohtas (Bihar) before he reportedly joined the Naxalite organisation People’s War Group (PWG) in 1994.

He later became an area commander of PWG active in Nauhatta,Chiutia and Rohtas for three years. He shifted his base to the bordering areas of Uttar Pradesh after his name surfaced in over a dozen killings,including those of policemen.

“Chaudhary used to report to PWG zonal commander Munna Vishwakarma (based at Kaimoor,Bihar) and used to coordinate with sub-zonal commanders Ram Sajivan and Lalvrat Kol,” said Singh.

After Chaudhary was killed,the Sonbhadra police started receiving specific information about the movement of Naxal groups in and around the bordering villages and thickets.

On December 4,locals in Brahmauri village on the Bihar borders informed the police about hearing gunshots in the jungles of Kaimur in Kon area. Following this,a police team led by SP Singh arrested two members of the Munna Vishwakarma group — Rakesh Mishra alias Bittu and Amarnath Kushwaha.

An SLR,which reportedly was one of the 11 rifles stolen in a Naxal attack on a PAC camp in Mirzapur in 2001,was recovered from accused along with cartridges and a walkie-talkie. During interrogation,the accused told the police that they had witnessed Munna Vishwakarma killing Naxal leader Ram Vriksha Kol in the Kon area,following an altercation over share of extortion money.

Vriksha Kol,also a sub-zonal commander affiliated to PWG,was active in extortion from mining and forest contractors in UP and Bihar. Carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head,Vriksha Kol was wanted in over three dozens cases in Sonbhadra,Chandauli and Mirzapur. These included one in which a truck was blown off,killing 16 PAC men in Chandauli in 2004.

While Anil Kushwaha,Dharmendra and Vishandeo Prajapati were arrested in December 2009,Girdhar Gopal alias Gopi and Anil Thakur were caught in January.

While Thakur and Prajapati used to move with Naxal leaders Lalvrat Kol and Ram Sajivan (both carry rewards of Rs 50,000 each on their heads),Gopi,Dharmendra and Kushwaha were close associates of Vishwakarma.