Three Maoists arrested in Aurangabad

PATNA: In a major setback to the Maoists operating in Bihar, a joint team of the CRPF, special task force and the district armed police arrested a hardcore activist Saryu Bhuyian and two other members of his family, including his wife, from Aurangabad on Sunday.
Security forces swooped down at Munshi Bigha village under the Madanpur police station area, close to Gaya-Aurangabad border in Aurangabad district and arrested Saryu, his wife Phulwasia Devi and their son Arvind Bhuyian when they were about to leave for Kanaudi forest to supply food material to the Maoists.
Aurangabad SDPO Anup Kumar said on Monday that Saryu and his family have been providing shelter and supplying food material to CPI-Maoists for the last one decade. “Saryu also took part in a few major operations carried out by the banned outfit,” he added.
One country-made carbine, three live cartridges and a huge quantity of food material were seized from Saryu’s house. During interrogation, the arrested Red rebels revealed that armed guerrillas used to stock huge food material in their camps in deep forests before monsoon as their movement gets restricted on plains during the period.
Saryu also revealed about the latest modus operandi of the Maoists and the kind of weapons the armed squad members of the outfit were provided for their operation. “The armed squad members are equipped with sophisticated weapons like Insas and carbine, while the second line of activists possessed rifles and country-made weapons,” a police officer quoted Saryu as saying.
The Maoists’ have also changed their strategy to carry out attacks on the security forces in Red-infested districts. “Instead of direct confrontation, they now prefer to trap police personnel and ambush them. Landmines or IEDs are used to cause extensive damage to security forces,” Saryu reportedly told the interrogators.
The second line of armed cadres were deployed to lend support to the killings by squad members on the front. “The main objective behind attack on security forces is to loot their weapons and cause physical harm to demoralise the enemy (read rival),” a senior official of the 153rd battalion of the CRPF said.
At least 10 highly trained commandos of Cobra battalion were killed in an IED explosion in Sondaha forest close to Aurangabad-Gaya border in July 2016. The slain jawans belonged to 205 battalion of elite force.