Maoists helped Marandi man

Jamshedpur LS Bypoll BJP gives EC a CD of candidates conversation with Naxal.

The bypoll for the prestigious Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat on Friday was overshadowed by high drama since morning when the ruling BJP handed over an audio CD to the Election Commission,alleging that the candidate fielded by former chief minister Babulal Marandis Jharkhand Vikas Morcha JVM had links with Maoist rebels.

The CD contained a purported telephonic conversation between JVM candidate Ajay Kumar,a former IPS officer,and a top CPI Maoist leader,Samarji. The BJP alleged that the Maoists were helping Kumar in the elections.

After denying the charges intitially,Kumar held a press conference in Jamshedpur after polling and admitted that he did speak to the Maoist leader,who is also a spokesperson for the rebels,but denied he took the rebels help.

When The Indian Express contacted Marandi,who had also refuted the allegations,after Kumars press conference,he said,I have not spoken to Kumar. I will talk to him about it.

The polls,despite a statewide bandh called by the Maoists to protest against the Chilkari massacre case verdict on June 23,saw about 50 per cent turnout improving from the 48 per cent recorded in the 2007 bypoll poll officials said. The result will be announced on July 4.

The Maoists were protesting against the death sentence awarded to four rebels by a Giridih court in connection with the Chilkari massacre,in which 19 people,including Marandis son,were killed.

The bandh call figured in the CD,copies of which were sent to media organisations by the BJP. Party former MLA Sarayu Rai claimed he had acquired the CD from a source,but the party refused to make public the identity of the person. This CD has exposed the link not only between Samarji and Kumar but also with Marandi who had forgotten the killing of his son by the Maoists for vested political gains. We demand an inquiry, said Rai.

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Chief Minister Arjun Munda also alleged that on June 28,after three Maoists were arrested in Jamshedpur,Marandi allegedly rang up a senior police officer,claiming they were JVM workers and demanded their release.

In the one-and-a-half minute conversation allegedly between Samarji and Kumar,the Maoist says: Party vote bahiskar ka nirnay liya hai8230; lekin ham kuch aiysa karenge ki apko chunao me fayeda hoga we have decided to boycott the poll but we will do something that will help you in the poll. Kumar replies: Thik hai fine. The Maoist spokesperson then asks him to meet Prabhat Bhuiyan,an alleged Maoist who was the JVM candidate in the Palamau Lok Sabha bypoll in 2007.