Top Kishanji aide held in Bengal

In their biggest breakthrough against the Maoists so far, police on Tuesday arrested the rebels’ military and explosives expert Venkateswar Reddy alias Telugu Deepak from Sarsuna in Behala on the south-western fringes of Kolkata.

Deepak (45), a member of the CPI(Maoist) central military commission, is a mecha-nical engineering graduate from Guntur Technical College and has been described as the right-hand man of Kote-swar Rao alias Kishanji.

Often, he would pose as Kisha-nji and had even learnt to speak like him to throw police off track, say sources.

It is Bengal Police’s first major success since the Maoist upsurge in Lalgarh — and the first-ever arrest of a member of the party’s ‘military’ unit. The Jharkhand government has a Rs 10-lakh bounty on Deepak. The breakthrough has led police to believe they have cracked the Maoist intelligence network on the eve of Operation Green Hunt.

This significant catch comes three years after police nabbed Somen, secretary of the CPI(Maoist) state unit, after a long and painstaking detective operation. Police are now conducting raids in the city — Deepak in tow — in se-arch of other Maoist hideouts.

A native of Prakasham district in Andhra Pradesh, Deepak was among the top leaders of the erstwhile People’s War (PW) that merged with Maoist Coordination Centre (MCC), at Kishanji’s prodding, to form the CPI(Maoist). He has been looking after military operations in Bengal and is also a member of the CPI(Maoist) state unit. He is wanted in several police cases in Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand.

Police knew that he used to frequent the city and used the same method that led them to nab Somen from Hridaypur railway station in North 24-Parganas in 2007.

"We had specific information that Deepak had sneaked into the city on February 6. Acting on the tip-off, our team went to Sarsuna and spotted him in a hideout. He had probably come here to meet someone," said Ajey Ranade, DIG (operations) of the CID.

Maoist leader Venkateswar Reddy alias Telugu Deepak was taken completely by surprise when police swooped down on his Behala hideout. "We knew he was here but it was difficult to identify him. Finally, we got hold of a person who could pick Deepak out in a crowd," a police officer said. According to sources, police used someone who used to act as courier for the Maoists to identify Deepak.

West Midnapore police can also claim a share of the success because it is they who tracked the courier who was keeping in touch with senior Maoist leaders in different parts of the state.

According to police, several Maoist leaders have been frequenting Kolkata and other cities in Bengal, especially after the Centre announced comprehensive combat operations against the Maoists. The purpose is to chalk out plans to thwart the move.

With the neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Bihar going slow on the anti-Maoist operations, the Bengal government has chosen to act on its own to take out top Maoist leaders and their collaborators. Special teams are using the guerrillas’ own tactics to beat them, said a policeman.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Top-Kishanji-aide-held-in-Bengal/articleshow/5635407.cms