Suspected Maoist caught in Rohini

NEW DELHI: A 42-year-old suspected Maoist - allegedly the chief trainer of the female armed wing of the erstwhile People's War Group in Jharkhand and wanted in the murder of a superintendant of police 12 years ago - was arrested from Rohini on Thursday by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police.

The accused, Pradip Kumar Singh, is reportedly an expert in fitting landmines. Investigators said Singh is the father of Rakesh, a Maoist Action Squad member active in the Palamau region.

Additional DCP (SIT) Joy Tirkey said Singh was initiated into active politics at Dalton College in 1988 through the Jharkhand Mazdoor Kisan Sangrami Parishad and participated in the agitation for separate statehood for Jharkhand in 1997. By the late '90s, he emerged as a key member of People's War Group (PWG), which merged with Maoist Communist Centre to form CPI (Maoist) in 2004.

Singh, who hails from Latehar in Jharkhand, is said to be wanted in the murder of Dr Ajay Kumar Singh, Superintendent of Police of Lohardaga, in October 2000.

He reportedly received arms training in the jungles of Sarayu before he was assigned the job to assassinate top police officers of Jharkhand. He began laying landmines after noticing the SP's convoy but ran out of time to activate it. It was then that his associates opened fire on the cop.

Sources said Singh was identified within 10 days of the attack. "He was forced to flee to Jalandhar where his brother-in-law was working at a blanket manufacturing firm. While there, he joined as a Munshi on the under-construction Jalandhar-Pathankot highway for the next four years till 2004. He tried returning to his residence in 2005 but agencies came to know about his move," the sources said.

"He then went to his sister's residence when Maoist Action Squad members Balram Oragaon and Nakul initiated him back into the squad. He helped set up training squads but fled yet again in 2006 when the Jharkhand police almost nabbed him," they added.

The sources also said that Singh came to visit his uncle in Noida, who got him a job with a security agency as a supervisor. In 2010, he again returned to Sarayu in Jharkhand and was designated as the trainer for the women and childrens' squad of the Maoists.

In February this year, his squad was surrounded by CRPF during operation Green Hunt. Seven members - including a woman - died but he managed to escape and come to Noida.

On April 10, his commanders went to his Jharkhand residence and asked his wife to call him back. "He was meeting someone in Rohini for this purpose when we arrested him,'' said a source.

DCP (crime) Sanjay Jain claimed that Singh is now an ideologue and recruiter in big cities. "He is no more into the armed wing. His job is to motivate youngsters. He is a good orator and uses his propaganda to spread PWG influence," Jain said.

Singh's 20-year-old son Rakesh, the local area commander of Maoists in Latehar, has a number of murder and kidnapping cases against him and is the "most wanted man" in the area. A loaded 7.65 mm pistol along with two live cartridges was recovered from his possession," Jain said. Singh was declared proclaimed offender in the case and was absconding.
Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Suspected-Maoist-caught-in-Rohini/articleshow/13102343.cms