The Chhattisgarh police on Friday claimed to have busted an alleged Maoist urban support network, with the arrest of seven people, including three construction contractors, from separate places.
While two persons, identified as Tapas Palit and Dayashankar Mishra were arrested last month, five others were held recently by the Kanker district police , inspector general of police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P said.
On March 24 this year, police had intercepted Palit ,a construction contractor while he was allegedly transporting a huge consignment of shoes, fabrics and walkie-talkie sets, meant for Maoist rebels, in his SUV, from the Siksod police station area of Kanker district, he said.
Palit, during interrogation, revealed about the Maoist courier network ,which was supplying various materials and cash to the Maoists rebels from the last two years in the area, he said.
Later, another person, identified as Dayashankar Mishra, who was associated with him, was also arrested from Rajandgaon district, the police officials said.
For an extensive probe into the matter, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kanker police led by additional superintendent of police Kirtan Rathore was then constituted, Sundarraj P said.
The SIT recently arrested five more people—Ajay Jain (45), Komal Prasad Verma, both Rajnandgaon based contractors, Rohit Nag (33) of Koyalibeda in Kanker, Sushil Sharma (50) of Uttar Pradesh and Suresh Sharnagat (28) of Madhya Pradesh—in this connection, the Bastar range police chief said.
As per preliminary investigation, two contractors—Nishant Jain of Bilaspur and Varun Jain of Rajnandgaon—who run the Landmark Engineer Company and Landmark Royal Engineer Company respectively, were allotted road construction works under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) in Antagarh, Amabeda, Siksod, Koyalibeda and other Maoist -hit areas of Kanker district, the IGP said.
The two firms then authorized to carry out the construction works to Ajay Jain, Komal Prasad Verma and Palit, who are said to be partners in a company deals in construction work, he said.
The three allegedly established communication with Maoist rebels and had been supplying shoes, Maoist uniforms, walkie-talkie sets and other materials along with cash to them for the last two years, he said adding that the remaining arrested persons are their accomplices.
The involvement of several other people in the offence is being probed, he added.
According to police, Maoists suffered a huge blow with these arrests as the ongoing lockdown has already paralyzed their supply chain.