Uttarakhand police arrested one Communist Party of India (Maoist) leader and three party members on Monday who were allegedly involved in pasting posters and distributing pamphlets exhorting the people to boycott the lok Sabha elections and intensify 'public struggle' at various places in Almora city, Someshwar, Basoli, Kaparkhan, Panuvanaula and other places in Almora district.
The police also recovered some publicity material from them. The accused have been identified as Maoist leader and Almora resident Jeevan Singh Chandra Arya and party members from Almora, Diwan Singh Bisht, Jagdish Ram and Govind Ram. It should be mentioned here that some persons had recently pasted posters on walls of Government buildings in several places in Almora district exhorting the people to boycott the lok Sabha elections and intensify 'public struggle' while highlighting allegations in red colour about this being an "open system of loot and not democracy" while also stating the demand for cancellation of non-bailable warrant against Maoist leaders Kheem Singh Bora and Devendra Chamyal.
Taking cognisance of this, a case under Sections 153 (a), 153 (b), 124 (a) of IPC and 127 Representation of the People Act 1950 was registered in Someshwar police station against unidentified persons. Acting on this, Almora Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ashok Kumar Bhatt formed teams consisting Special Operation Group, Intelligence Unit, Special Operation Task Force and district police to search for the culprits.
The police team raided Govind Ram’s house located at village Patia on Sunday, arrested three persons- Govind Ram, Jagdish Ram, Diwan Singh Bisht and recovered posters and pamphlets from them. During the raid, three persons- Ramesh alias Davendra Chamiyal, Tarun and Seema managed to escape from the scene. Police teams have been deployed at various places to nab them.
Based on interrogation of these accused, Police arrested Maoist leader JC Arya who was also publishing a magazine called ‘Pratirodh Ke Swar’. Two days before polling in lok Sabha election 2014, the arrest of four Maoists is being considered a big achievement for police.
Following the posters and pamphlets being distributed in the area, the State police had said that a list of few suspects has been prepared and their movements were being closely monitored by the police. The police had then outrightly rejected Maoist activity in the Kumaon region. It should be mentioned here that a training camp being run by Maoist leaders along the border areas in Kumaon region was reported in the year 2004.