Prasant Majhi (23), who claimed to have worked as a bodyguard of Panda for the last over two years, surrendered without any weapons before the Superintendent of Police of Gajapati district Sarthak Sarangi.
Refusing to lay down arms, the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) on Saturday said that it was open to talks with the Jharkhand government provided the ban over it was lifted along with the release of its cadres.
Suspected Communist Party of India-Maoist guerrillas blew up railway tracks and a portion of government complex housing the office of the block development officer n Bihar's Naxal-hit Jamui district in the wee hours of Friday to protest the recent arrest of its self-styled area commander.
The tussle between cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist and CPI- Marxist has taken an ugly turn in West Bengal, with as many as 120 CPI (M) workers being selectively identified, abducted and killed by Maoists in the past 11 months.
A trade union leader, arrested in the capital during investigations into Maoist network, was the Delhi chief of proscribed Communist Party of India-Maoist who was looking after party operations in the city, police sources said on Wednesday.
The two-day shutdown has been called to protest the killing of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in Andhra Pradesh's Adilabad District last week.
Addressing media persons in New Delhi, Chidambaram said: "It was a somewhat bizarre offer. That is because, barely 3 hours after the so-called offer, the CPI (Maoist) attacked a joint patrol party of the West Bengal police and the CRPF in PS Lalgarh, district West Midnapore. The patrol party retaliated and three people were killed."
Suspected Maoists have killed three persons, including a contractor, in Deogarh district, Director General of Police Amarananda Pattanayak said on Friday.
Maoists on Monday night named three negotiators to talk to the Odisha government on the Italian hostage crisis even as they set a fresh 24-hour deadline for acceptance of 13 demands including withdrawal of cases against the ultras.
The Maoists carried out two dozen blasts in the evening when the motorcycle-borne policemen during an anti-Naxal operation were passing through the Kudur area
The Maoists on Tuesday claimed that Kobad Gandhy, a politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, was arrested soon after his return from the "guerrilla zone" and a "weak element" in their party gave information to police about his movements.
Suspected Maoists killed a local Communist Party of India-Maoist leader after raiding his house at Barabazar, about 50 km from Purulia, early on Thursday morning and fled towards the Jharkhand border, a senior police official said.
Maoist rebels have put up posters in Latehar district of Jharkhand, calling upon people to spurn the initiatives of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P Chidambaram.
The 24th CPI(M) Party Congress commenced in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, with interim coordinator Prakash Karat emphasizing the need for Left unity to combat "Hindutva neo-fascism." He criticized the BJP-RSS government, accusing it of representing a "Hindutva-corporate nexus" and displaying "neo-fascist characteristics." Other Left leaders, including CPI general secretary D Raja and CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, echoed calls for unity and condemned the current political climate in India.
A new outfit calling itself M2 and claiming to support the Hindus and tribal people has surfaced in Orissa, raising doubts on whether the Maoist cadre in the state are divided. The outfit came out in support of the Hindus and tribal people after the Communist Party of India-Maoists claimed responsibility for the murder of religious leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in August.
The Maoists blew up the tracks near the Bhalui halt station on the Jhajha-Kiul section of East Central Railway around 2 am, disrupting train services on Patna-Howrah main line
The outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoists) is planning to step up its offensive by exploiting the situation arising out of the current global economic downturn even as it is apprehensive that the Centre could unelash a military offensive against the movement.
Maoist leaders in India have decided to enroll non resident Indians and foreigners living in India as members. This is seen as a first major change in its strategy to widen their support base to intensify the armed struggle. The Communist Party of India-Maoist, a banned outfit, considered powerful and active in several states in India, in its recently released new Constitution made it clear that it is in favour of enrolling NRIs and foreigners as members.
"This is applicable for the entire country, all states and we have accepted it. But how to implement it is the government's business," Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told media persons after a cabinet meeting in Kolkata.
'We are ready for talks with the Centre and West Bengal Government if the intellectuals, who visited the troubled Lalgarh area last Sunday, arrange for a meeting,' CPI-Maoist leader Sagar said in a statement.
Accepting that it suffered casualties in the Narayanpur encounter, Maoists said on Friday that three of their commanders were killed in the retaliatory fire by the Central Reserve Police Force.
The government on Tuesday said terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Maoists had undertaken extensive reconnaissance of power plants in several states in a bid to attack Central Industrial Security Force armouries located there. Besides LeT, there are also reports of Communist Party of India - Maoist having undertaken extensive reconnaissance to target the CISF armouries located in some power plants," Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran said.
Communist Party of India-Maoist central committee member G Saraiah alias Azad and his wife Padma were shot dead in an exchange of fire with Greyhound commandos in the forests between Kantanapalli-Rampuram villages in Eturunagaram mandal. Azad was suspected of organising the killing of 16 tribals in Nizamabad district in 2002.
In a major blow to the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist in Andhra Pradesh, the organsation's state secretary Sambasivudu on Sunday surrendered before a senior police official. Confirming his surrender, Home Minister K Jana Reddy said that Sambasivudu will be produced before the media on Monday. He refused to share any more details. Sambasivudu took over as the chief of the underground organisation in 2006.
The Communist Party of India-Maoist has in a three-page letter taken responsibility for the Dantewada attack that killed 76 Central Reserve Police Force and Combat Battalion for Resolute Action commandos on Tuesday.
The arrest of Kobad Ghandy, 63, has boosted the morale of security officers, said a senior Intelligence Bureau official. According to a senior source in IB, "Kobad Ghandy, being a Politburo member, has been instrumental in shaping up the ideological and military course of action of the Communist Party of India - Maoist.
After arresting a top Naxal leader, investigators are on the trail of some Maoist leaders believed to be hiding in Delhi, police sources said on Tuesday.Kobad Gandhi, 63, a politburo member of the Communist Party of India - Maoist, was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi police from Bikhaji Cama Place on Sunday night, following an input received from intelligence agencies."We believe that this arrest will lead to more arrests of Naxal leaders," said a police official.
Police stations across Jharkhand have been alerted following the Communist Party of India-Maoist's two-day 'Bharat bandh' from May 21.
Serious brainstorming at the national level is fast becoming a necessity to deal with this phenomenon of abductions by the Maoists. The home ministry's hands-off approach is certainly not what India needs at the moment, says Bibhu Prasad Routray.
Top Naxal leader Kobad Ghandy, accused of trying to set up a base for his banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist in New Delhi, was absolved on Wednesday of stringent charges under the anti-terror law by a Delhi court, which put him on trial for alleged offences of impersonation, cheating and forgery.
The Andhra Pradesh police claimed to have foiled an attempt of a Maoist team from Karnataka to target political leaders and senior police officers in the state, by arresting one of its members on Sunday.
The banned Communist Party of India-Maoist rebels blasted railway tracks in Bihar's Jamui district and torched a portion of Ratanpur station in adjoining Munger early on Sunday during a bandh called by them, disrupting train services on the Patna-Howrah main line for more than 7 hours.
It is time for the government to have a re-think on the way we have been dealing with this problem in order to have a tailor-made strategy based on improvement of political management, strengthening rural policing and rural intelligence and developing capacities for rural operations with emphasis on mobile as well as on static security.
The Communist Party of India - Maoists on Monday warned the Jharkhand government to stop all search operations in Ghorabandha area for the abducted Block Development Officer from Monday night and fulfill their demands if it wants the safe release of the officer. Rakeshji, spokesman of CPI-Maoist- Bengal-Orissa-Jharkhand Border Regional Committee, said over the phone, "We will not take responsibility of the abducted BDO's safety if police action is not stopped."
Communist Party of India-Maoist Central Committee member and in-charge of Haryana, Lanka Venkata Papi Reddy alias Ranganna alias Latchanna, surrendered before Andhra Pradesh Home Minister K Jana Reddy in Hyderabad on Saturday. Speaking to newsmen, Papi Reddy, 47, said that he decided to surrender and join the 'mainstream of public life' due to his failing health.
In a fresh jolt to the Naxals in Odisha, 57 Maoist sympathisers, including 11 militia and two village committee members, today surrendered before the police in Malkangiri district.
After Maoist leader Kishenji's recent phone call to Environment Secretary M L Meena, the West Bengal government on Tuesday cautioned officials against speaking to leaders of outlawed organisations. "Why should any of our officers talk to Kishenji? We don't need discussions with any leader of an outlawed organisations like the Communist party of India - Maoist," Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters. Sen, however, ruled out issuing a circular to government officials.
During last night's attack a sentry, a warder and a 'Ranvir Sena' leader Bade Sharma were gunned down at the overcrowded sub-jail
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