Days after West Bengal Police arrested CPI (Maoist)’s West Bengal in-charge Sabyasachi Goswami alias Kishor, the investigation has revealed that the banned outfit is increasing its footprints in Bengal’s minority belt, as reported by The New Indian Express.
As per the report, the outfit is increasing its activities in the minority-dominated pockets of Murshidabad and Nadia districts along with Junglemahal, which is a backward region in the western part of the state. The area had witnessed a bloodbath over a decade ago.
Notably, West Bengal Police on 12th January (Friday) arrested Maoist leader Sabyasachi Goswami alias ‘Kishore Da’. He was carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head from Purulia district, a senior police officer had said. A few rounds of bullets, one 9mm pistol, and a few documents have been recovered from his possession, the police official added.
The top Maoist leader was also on the list of most wanted fugitives by the NIA and other states’ police for his role in resurrecting Left Wing Extremism in the Assam-Bengal corridor.
The Bengal police after a chase arrested Goswami from Purulia and interrogated him. During interrogation, they learned that the CPI (Maoist) had infiltrated minority communities in Murshidabad and Nadia, which are near the India-Bangladesh border. These are newly added areas to the Maoists’ operational scope since 2019.
As per the police’s investigation, Goswami and his followers used villagers to take refuge and create corridors for the clandestine movement of organisation members.
A Police officer said, “Goswami’s interrogation revealed that the banned outfit has set up a base in many pockets in the two India-Bangladesh border districts, Murshidabad and Nadia, as the Muslims in these areas strongly opposed the CAA. He and his followers managed to take minority villagers into confidence and used many villages to take refuge and as corridors for the secret movement of the operatives of the organisation.”
Under Goswami’s leadership, many frontal organisations like Sangrami Krishak Manch came up to hold mass protests on several local issues, the report added.
The Police revealed that recently, Goswami wrote a letter to an underground operative in which he mentioned the names of a few people who had been tasked to do a secret meeting in the guise of frontal organisations in these districts.
The cop added, “In a recent letter to an underground operative of the outlawed outfit, Goswami also mentioned the names of a few who are assigned to secretly organise open meetings under the banner of frontal organisations in the two bordering districts.”