Zeenews Bureau
New Delhsi: The West Bengal CID is trying to bring in top Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy, who is under arrest in Delhi, to Kolkata so that he can be grilled along another Maoist leader Venkateswar Reddy alias Telugu Dipak.
Dipak is suspected to have masterminded the attack that killed 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel in Silda in West Midnapore district.
As per the latest news report, the CID officials are exploring if peace talks could be brokered through the leaders in custody and a link established with those still at large.
Dipak, a close aide of Maoist Polit Bureau member Kishanji alias Koteswar Rao, is a member of the State Military Commission, West Bengal chapter, and is in charge of armed operations in Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand, CID sources said.
The State Military Commission of Maoists is responsible for detailed planning, operational method and process of execution of an armed operation, said sources. An expert in explosives, Dipak was behind all major strikes in West Bengal in recent times as also the attack on Andhra Pradesh Police’s elite anti-naxal force Greyhound in Balimela reservoir in Orissa’s Malkangiri district killing 38 cops in June 2008.
Dipak’s arrest is the biggest catch after the arrest of Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy, the sources said, adding that the leader, who holds a mechanical engineering degree, also masterminded the Maoist strikes in Silda, Sankrail, Gidhni and the Rajdhani siege incident in West Midnapore district of West Bengal since last year.
The city police had chargesheeted Ghandy, accused of trying to set up a network of the banned outfit here, under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, besides booking him for various offences under the IPC relating to cheating, forgery and impersonation.
In its over 700-page chargesheet, the police had alleged that 63-year-old Ghandy along with his associates was trying to build a Maoist corridor in the national capital.
