Uttar Pradesh Timeline 2016

Date

Incidents

June 5

The Uttar Pradesh Police is now probing the CPI-Maoist angle in the Mathura clashes. "We have short listed some numbers that supposedly belong to Maoists and we have put them on surveillance. We are also interrogating some close aides of Ram Vraksh Yadav, the mastermind of the clashes", an official disclosed.

A top CPI-Maoist leader from Latehar District of Jharkhand, Pradeep Singh Kharwar was arrested, along with five other accomplices from an apartment in Sector-49 Noida in Gautam Budh Nagar District. The 'area commander' was hiding in Noida since February 2012. UP Police claimed a major attack in Delhi, NCR has been averted with the arrests. The group was arrested in a joint operation of intelligence agencies and UP-ATS. The arrested 'commander' had INR 500,000 reward on him and was among the most wanted, said top brass of UP Police. Pradip is a resident of Bariyatu village in Latehar District of Jharkhand. Six weapons have been recovered from them.

The UP-ATS claimed to have arrested four more CPI-Maoist, taking the total arrests since October 15 to 10. One of those arrested, was arrested from Chandauli District in eastern UP, while Police are looking for another person from the village. The UP Police claimed that Sunil Ravidas (30), who was arrested from Chandauli, as well as 28-year-old Ranjit Paswan and Krishna Kumar (42), arrested from Noida on October 15, were members of the splinter Maoist organisation TSPC. The absconding accused has been identified as Ramapati, also from Chandauli. While some reports said one of the arrested persons was from Latehar, the UP ATS and Jharkhand Police denied this. "None of the arrested persons is from Latehar or Jharkhand," Latehar SP, Anup Birthare said. The ATS said the 10 accused were "experts in bomb making", and Ravidas was "the main person". The NIA is planning to also question the accused.

At a press conference, IG, UP ATS, Aseem Arun said that last month, the Gautam Budh Nagar District Police had received a tip-off about "suspicious activities", from a local in the area. "An aware citizen informed that some Naxalite activities were taking place in Noida and some people are likely to carry out a big incident around Diwali. On the basis of this information, around 9 pm on October 15, a team of UP ATS and commandos surrounded a flat in Hindon Vihar in Noida Sector 49 and arrested five persons… After preliminary questioning, their associates were arrested," said Arun. He claimed that they moved in on Saturday night after receiving information that weapons were being transported and that the men were gathering.

Investigations indicated plans for kidnapping, murder, bank and ATM robberies, the officer said. "There is a new trend. Naxals are not just looking at dominating areas, they want money. We are not experts in Bihar Naxalism, so the Intelligence Bureau team, other agencies are here." In the five-decade history of the Maoist struggle, this would be the first instance of Naxals planning to loot an ATM. "They had taken up two flats on rent and a small shop in Noida. The shop was used to carry out property business. The nature of these operations is under investigation," Arun added. Sources claimed one of the accused may have carried out Naxal operations under the garb of a real estate firm.

Police claim to have recovered 125 detonators, three 32 bore pistols, one 9 mm pistol, three 315 bore country-made revolvers, more than 80 cartridges, two laptops, 13 mobile phones, cash amounting to INR 75,000, apart from four cars and a motorcycle, from the men. Arun said an INSAS rifle, "belonging to one of the forces", and two other recovered rifles were of "very good quality". While five of the Maoists were arrested on Saturday night from Noida, four were arrested from nearby Sadarpur area on Sunday. Ravidas was arrested from Chandauli. Apart from Ravidas, Ranjit Paswan and Krishna Kumar, Pawan Kumar Jha (25), Sunil Kumar Yadav (25), Shailendra Kumar (41), Sachin Kumar (28), Suraj (22), Ashish Saraswat (18), and Brij Kishor Tomar (22) were arrested. Six of the accused - Ravidas, Paswan, Sachin Kumar, Saraswat, Tomar and Suraj - are from UP. The others are from Bihar. Western UP, from where three of the men come, has virtually no Naxal presence.

A court in Lucknow, remanded four CPI-Maoist cadres arrested from Noida in seven-day custody of UP-ATS. "The ATS has got remand of four naxals from today to October 26. The remand was granted by CJM, Gautam Buddha Nagar on the application moved by ATS on October 17," a senior Police official said. The Maoists, who were taken in remand included Ranjit Paswan, Krishan Kumar, Pawan Kumar Jha and Ashish Saraswat, he said. Averting a major Maoist attack in the national capital and its neighbourhood, the UP-ATS had on October 16 arrested a gang of rebels arresting 10 of them, including a self-styled 'area commander', and recovering a huge cache of arms and ammunition. The LWEs were adept at making bombs and were planning some incidents in the Delhi-NCR region, IG, UP-ATS, Aseem Arun said. Nine Maoists were arrested from Noida, on the outskirts of Delhi, while one from Chandauli District of Varanasi Division.