KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Nov 10: In a major breakthrough, the police and paramilitary forces arrested three Naxals by raiding a place at a non-descriptive village under the Tonto Thana area in West Singhbhum district about 140 km away from here on Friday.
Significantly, those arrested were caught while they were busy making IEDs at the place.
Apart from materials meant for making IEDs, the police have seized a large number of iron rods and pipes which were kept there for making spike-holes aimed at causing harm to the paramilitary forces.
Those arrested were identified as Juria Bahanda (28), Dobai Purti (28) and Lobia Boipai (21), all residents of West Singhbhum.
Revealing about the breakthrough, West Singhbhum SP, Ashutosh Shekhar said that the three Naxals were arrested following an intelligence input from the Tonto Thana area.
“The seizure was made at the Husipi village under the Naxal-infested Tonto thana area. The arrested persons who are experts in making the IEDs have confessed their crime during the interrogation,” said the senior police officer in a press statement.
The SP Ashutosh Shekhar said the three in the police net have not only confessed their involvement in IED-making but also spilled beans about their involvement in planting the IEDs at the strategic location in the Kolhan forest divisions and also at the adjoining Porahat forest division during the past 11 months.
The three arrested persons who were active members of the outlawed Naxal outfit CPI-Maoist were forwarded to judicial custody by the evening.
The police and paramilitary forces had arrested Naxals indulged in a current spell of insurgency activities earlier also, but it was for the first time that the police succeeded in arresting those indulged in IED making.
It may be mentioned here that a large number of Naxals have laid seize of Kolhan and Porahat forest divisions in West Singhbhum since January this year, but before sneaking into the twin divisions, the Naxals had planted innumerable IEDs in and around their hideouts.
Since January 11, over a dozen innocent villagers have been killed and about two dozen paramilitary jawans were injured in the IED blasts triggered by the Naxals. Three paramilitary jawans also lost their lives while trying to make the forest divisions clear of the Naxals.
