Cops to take Maoist leader on remand

RANCHI: Jharkhand police are planning to take Maoist zonal commander Shiv Munda alias Prashant, arrested from Rourkela last week, on their remand for interrogation.
Prashant alias Lambu was considered the second in command in the Maoist hierarchy controlling the Saranda forest and was responsible for collection of most of the money as well as training programmes. He was arrested by Rourkela police along with two women Maoists Kiran and Badera of Platoon 22.Police had also recovered Rs 75 lakh collected as ransom and a pistol from him.
DGP G S Rath said they were planning to take Prashant on remand for interrogation as there were some cases against him in Jharkhand also. "Currently Orissa police are interrogating him and after that is over Jharkhand police will try to take him on police remand," he said.
Prashant and other senior Maoists leaders have sneaked into Orissa from Jharkhand after one of the biggest anti-Naxalite operations was launched in the dense Saranda forest.
In a similar operation on Friday afternoon, security forces recovered three IEDs from Nuagaon village on the Jharkhand-Orissa border. Security forces also recovered around 100 metres of wire used in triggering blasts and one iron box containing literature and other books.
"The forces are scanning the whole forest and are trying to flush out the Maoists. Everyday we are getting some success or other," said West Singhbhum SP Arun Kumar Singh.
On Wednesday evening, the security forces came across a Maoist training camp, which is said to be one of the biggest in the forest. "The camp was spread on around five acres and had more than 50 watch towers and huge cache of explosives were found," said Singh.