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Arrested Maoist's links with LTTE, ULFA under probe

KOLKATA: The West Bengal police will probe the links of arrested Maoist leader Venkatesh Reddy with the LTTE, the ULFA and Kashmiri militants.

“There were inputs from the central Intelligence Bureau on this and we will probe his connections with such terrorist groups during our interrogation,” Director-General of Police Bhupinder Singh told The Hindu.

Reddy, also known as Deepak, was nabbed here on March 2 and had been in the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department since then. An IB team and a police team from Andhra Pradesh were also interrogating Deepak, wanted in several cases in the southern State.

Promotions

The DGP said a reward of Rs. 1 lakh would be recommended for the team which helped to arrest the top-rung Maoist. A proposal would be sent for giving out-of-turn promotions to meritorious officers in such cases. “Our State does not have this system which is prevalent elsewhere but we have been thinking along these lines for sometime,” the DGP said.

“We have received some information but I cannot say whether Maoist leaders like Kishanji are within our reach — I cannot answer this question,” he told journalists. The DGP, however, mentioned that it was found that Kishanji had been present in Nandigram under the alias of Sukumar during the agitation over land. Deepak had assumed the name of Gouranga. Mr. Singh said while it was thought that the 43-year-old Deepak was unmarried, indications were now available that he was married.

To a question whether Deepak was involved in the triggering of an improvised explosive device blast on the convoy of the Chief Minister on November 2, 2008, Mr. Singh said while he could not divulge specific details, but as a member of the Maoist military commission, he was involved in most of these incidents. The mechanical engineer-turned-Maoist leader was known to be an expert in explosives. “In West Bengal he was involved in planning and commissioning of every Maoist activity in the three affected districts as well as in Malta, Nadia and Muslimabad,” Mr. Singh said. The DGP also confirmed that Deepak had visited certain industrial belts in the North 24 parganas district like Sodepur on the city's northern fringes. His activities included trying to group industrial workers of closed units.

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Arrested Maoist's links with LTTE, ULFA under probe

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