Birbhum Police arrest absconding Maoist after 12 yrs
The Birbhum Police on Saturday arrested dreaded Maoist Babul Sutradhar (48), who had been absconding for the last 12 years, from Mayureswar village in the district.
Acting on a tip-off, the Birbhum district police raided an unauthorised godown and seized huge quantities of ammonium nitrate powder and detonators at Borjole village within Rampurhat Police Station limits.
For the last few days the Birbhum police have been raiding several places in the district and seizing crude bombs and explosive powder. There has been a spurt in bombings and bomb explosions in the district and the Birbhum district police superintendent Shyam Singh himself is taking a personal interest.
A number of police personnel have been transferred and a few suspended by the police superintendent after the blast incidents. New OCs have also been posted at various police stations. Rampurhat police had seized eleven thousand nine hundred kilograms of ammonium nitrate and eighty thousand pieces of detonators in the raid at Borjole.
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However, nobody was found at the godown during the raid and so far police have not arrested anyone in this connection. Police are trying to track down the godown owner. Rampurhat Police have registered a suo motu case and investigations have started.
The samples of the explosives have been sent for forensic examination, police sources said. The SP of Birbhum, Shyam Singh, said that the ongoing raids will continue and further seizures will take place.
Prima facie it seems that the explosives were stored for illegal stone mining activities which are rampant in Rampurhat and Mohammadbazar Police Station areas of Birbhum district. These moderately powerful industrial explosives are meant for coal mining purposes in India and criminals steal them for illegal mining activities mostly.
However, the Maoists and other groups also use them for subversive activities. The state CID has also started parallel investigations after the latest haul of explosives in Birbhum, police sources added.
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