Alarm bells ring as Maoists set up base in capital

New Delhi: The arrests of three Maoist operatives from the city points towards the presence of a number of operatives in the city according to senior police officers and intelligence agencies. The cops said they are now investigating the existence of sleeper cells that are very much functional in the Capital. This comes after information that several Naxal leaders from Jharkhand and West Bengal have set up base in the metropolis as it is relatively easier to conceal one's identity in a big city.

"We have intercepted conversations between Naxal sympathizers in Delhi and operatives living in the jungles of Dankaranya. We know that besides gathering funds, some of these foot soldiers are now busy transporting drugs from Orissa and Jharkhand in trucks and express trains. We are now questioning some suspects in order to understand how much of this drug money is used to finance the Maoist cause,'' said a source.

Police sources said that Maoist operatives - hailing from Jharkhand - have been travelling to the borders of eastern UP and have been making frequent calls to Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and West Bengal. Among these, sources claim, information about six suspects is too strong "to be ignored. They have bases in Shakarpur and Punjabi Bagh.'' The fact that the suspects transported arms procured from both sides of the border also needs to be investigated further though the questioning of the two trainers arrested by special cell has thrown up many new leads. "Our team will discuss these aspects in detail once they reach Ranchi,'' said a source.

This is the first time that the police have developed inputs about Maoists once again developing their contacts in the city after the arrest of alleged Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy by the Delhi police special cell. "Maoists usually came here to gather funds for the movement and also to treat various medical conditions. They also try to use the intellectual support that they enjoy among a particular section of the middle class in the city to spread awareness about their movement. However of late, cops have found that the ideologues have been mixing with workers especially those who hail from Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand in the Azadpur and Shakarpur areas of north and northwest Delhi. These areas have a floating population and hence it is easy for them to hide themselves and try to spread their ideology,'' said a source.

Maoists have reportedly assigned one of their senior politburo members to liaison with north-east based insurgent outfits such as Peoples Liberation army of Manipur and Kanglaipak Communist Party (KCP) of Manipur. The latter keeps in direct contact with the Maoist party in Bangladesh which has formed NCOMPOSA, another forum to fight together.