South Asia Terrorism Portal

TPC: 'Troubleshooter' Crashes Out  
Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

On May 28, 2018, three cadres of the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC), a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), were killed in an encounter with the Security Forces (SFs) near Dundur Hillock under Chhaterpur Police Station in Palamu District. Commenting on the encounter, Superintendent of Police (SP) Indrajit Mahatha disclosed, “Three ultras have been gunned down. Two dead bodies, along with two AK-47 rifles, have so far been retrieved.” The identities of the slain cadres were yet to be ascertained. 

Earlier, on January 11, 2018, two TPC ‘commanders’ were killed in an encounter with a joint team of the Hazaribagh District Police and troopers of the 22^nd battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Konai Khurd village under Padma Police Station in Hazaribagh District. SFs recovered one AK 47 rifle, one INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle, and 200 rounds of live ammunition.

Partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) says that the SFs have killed at least five TPC cadres in the current year so far (data till June 3, 2018). In a departure from past trends, TPC has not lost any cadre in factional clashes in 2018. During the corresponding period in 2017, SFs had eliminated one TPC cadre while another 10 were killed in factional clashes. No TPC cadre was killed in the remaining period of 2017 (either by SFs or in factional violence).  

Since its formation in 2002, TPC has lost 64 cadres – 38 killed CPI-Maoist militants, 14 killed by SF personnel, seven killed by cadres of other Left Wing Extremist groups operating in the State, four killed in internecine clashes and one lynched by villagers. The last of these occurred on August 23, 2010, when an unspecified number of TPC cadres had reportedly gone to Salgi village in Ramgarh District to collect extortion money. The villagers confronted and lynched one of them, while others managed to escape.

There are some 18 Left Wing Extremist groups operating in Jharkhand in addition to TPC. Some of the other groups, include the CPI-Maoist, People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP), Jharkhand Sangharsh Jan Mukti Morcha (JSJMM), Jharkhand Prastuti Committee (JPC), and Tritiya Prastuti Committee-1 (TPC-1), a TPC breakaway.

TPC suffered its first loss on April 9, 2007, when eight TPC cadres were killed in a clash with around 100 CPI-Maoist militants near Bhadgao under the Balumath Police Station in Latehar District.

Some of the prominent losses suffered by the TPC since April 9, 2007 (data till June 3, 2018), include:

May 21, 2017: Seven TPC cadres were killed in an exchange of fire with CPI-Maoist cadres in Keredari area of Hazaribagh District.

March 24, 2017: Three TPC cadres were killed in a clash with cadres of the CPI-Maoist at Seeta Chuan under Mohammadganj Police Station in Palamau District.

August 9, 2014: At least 14 TPC cadres were killed by the Maoists at Choti Kauriya village under Vishrampur Police Station limits in Palamu District.

September 22, 2009: Three TPC cadres were killed and another three were arrested by SFs during an encounter in the Kumbha Begwari village of Hazaribagh District.

September 12, 2007: Cadres of the Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT), a Left-Wing Extremist group, killed three TPC cadres in the Bano Forest area of Simdega District.

May 29, 2007: JLT cadres shot dead four TPC militants at Barwa Toli near Salechnawa village under the Balumath Police Station area in Latehar District.

May 28, 2007: CPI-Maoist cadres abducted and subsequently killed four TPC militants with sharp edged weapons in Latehar District.

Of the 60 TPC cadres killed at least nine were ‘commander’ level leaders (three killed by SFs and the remaining six by the CPI-Maoist). Another, 126 TPC cadres have been arrested by SFs, including at least 34 at the ‘commander’ level, while one ‘commander’ surrendered during this period (since April 2007). On November 29, 2017, Roshan aka Ajay Prasad Sao, a TPC 'commander', surrendered with his weapon before the Jharkhand State Police in Latehar District.

On the other hand, TPC inflicted the first losses on its adversaries (other Left Wing Extremist groups operating in the State), with whom it engaged in turf wars, on May 29, 2007, when it killed two JLT cadres in the Latehar District as revenge for the killing of four of its own supporters by JLT. Since then it has been confirmed to have been involved in the killing of at least 36 Left Wing Extremist challengers in 16 incidents, including 22 CPI-Maoist cadres, in seven incidents; five JPC cadres, in four incidents; four cadres of an unspecified Left Wing Extremist group, in one incident; two JJMP cadres, in two incidents; two JLT cadres in one incident; and one JSJMM cadre, in one incident of ‘turf war’.

TPC has not been found involved in killing of any SF personal so far, though it has inflicted 16 civilian fatalities (between October 21, 2007 and June 3, 2018). The first incident of civilian killing by TPC was reported on October 21, 2007, when TPC cadres shot dead a local Congress party leader, Ram Narayan Yadav, at Mangalpu in Palamau District.

Since April 9, 2007, TPC-linked incidents have resulted in a total of at least 116 fatalities, including 16 civilians and 100 Left Wing Extremists (data till June 3, 2018). During this period, there were a total of 1,343 Left Wing Extremism-linked fatalities (590 civilians, 246 SF personnel, and 507 Left Wing Extremists) in Jharkhand. Thus, TPC-linked fatalities accounted for 8.63 per cent of total-Left Wing Extremism linked fatalities in the State.

TPC, literally, the Third Proposal Committee, was founded by Brajesh Ganjhu aka Sardar ji, a former CPI-Maoist cadre in Lawalong area in Chatra in 2001, and formally constituted in 2002, after a number of cadres of the CPI-Maoist in Jharkhand walked out of the parent formation, complaining of the domination of the Yadav caste in the decision-making process. TPC cadres were mostly from the Dalit (Scheduled Caste) Bhokta, Turi, Badai, Oraon, and Ghanju castes. TPC has its strongholds primarily in the Latehar, Chatra and Palamu Districts of Jharkhand. However, on July 6, 2007, TPC claimed that it had expanded its organisation across Jharkhand. In an interview, Girij, the group's 'sub zonal commander' for Palamau District, claimed that the outfit had established units in each of Jharkhand's 22 Districts, declaring,

TPC has made its presence felt in Bihar as well. On April 9, 2017, suspected TPC cadres raided the construction site of Gas India Limited (GAIL), the agency engaged in laying gas pipeline passing through the Gurua Police Station area of Gaya District, Bihar, and 'ordered' stoppage of work due to the company's failure to pay the 'levy' demanded. Earlier, on March 1, 2017, the TPC 'zonal commander' Anil Kushwaha aka Rakesh Mishra and 10 cadres killed one Jitendra Kharwar (18) over delay in serving them food in the Rohtas District of Bihar.

It is widely believed that TPC was originally formed as a state proxy, to help neutralize the activities and influence of the dominant CPI-Maoist. On August 4, 2014, the then Jharkhand Chief Minister (CM) Hemant Soren had claimed, on the floor of the Assembly that it was the Police that created TPC as well as the PLFI:

The then officiating State Chief Secretary Sajal Chakraborty on May 18, 2014, observed that Jharkhand's Left Wing Extremism issue was a "threat blown out of proportion" because criminal acts committed by splinter groups without ideological moorings simply inflated the number of violent incidents. The State Government has argued that CPI-Maoist alone should be retained on the Left Wing Extremist list, while splinter groups like TPC, PLFI, JPC, JSJMM, Sashastra People's Morcha (SPM), Revolutionary Communist Centre (RCC), and JJMP should be dropped, and treated merely as criminal gangs.

On May 18, 2016, Chief Minister Raghubar Das unveiling plans to tackle outfits involved in extortion, abductions and killings, stated,

A November 2007 assessment by the Jharkhand Police put TPC cadre strength at 70. An April 5, 2013, media report had claimed that TPC had a cadre strength of around 500 and was growing in strength. There is no further information available about the strength of the outfit. According to a January 11, 2016, report TPC ‘chief’ Brajesh Ganjhu filed his nomination in the name of Gopal Singh Bhokta for election as a Panchayat Samiti member from Lawalong Panchayat in Chatra District. His mischief went undetected and he was elected unopposed. Later, when it was discovered that the elected member was none other than the TPC ‘chief’ himself, his election was declared null and void. During this period he kept away from TPC activities and pushed forward the name of his close aide Mahendra Singh Khariwar, to carry on with TPC activities and made him the ‘titular chief’. Ganjhu’s name figures in the list of ‘Rewarded Naxal/Criminals’ with INR 2.5 million in head money declared by the Jharkhand Police. The leadership structure of the outfit is divided into ‘zonal chiefs’, ‘sub-zonal chiefs’, ‘district chiefs’ and ordinary cadres.

TPC activities are more akin to an organized crime gang than any ideologically driven movement. The group carefully avoids confrontations with SFs and engages with them only if no other option is available. Its primary concern is extortion from contractors, businessmen, government employees and any one they can lay their hands on. Coal traders in Districts including Latehar are also specifically targeted by the outfit for extortion. Though TPC has been involved in stray incidents of damaging economic infrastructure, they target contractors, their employees and construction equipment only when extortion demands are not met.

SFs have succeeded in containing the TPC menace and an encouraging measure of dominance has been established. Surviving stragglers are now being targeted by sustained SF action and the group has little hope of recovering significant strength.

Continuing Justice 
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On May 10, 2018, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) awarded the death sentence to war criminal Reaz Uddin Fakir (69), a member of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), for crimes committed during the Liberation War of 1971. According to the verdict, all the four charges brought against Reaz had been proved beyond any shadow of doubt. He was handed death sentences on two charges and a jail term until his death on two other charges. Reaz received a death sentence for murdering eight Hindu villagers in village Rishipara, Mymensingh District, on November 5, 1971. He was awarded the second death sentence for his complicity in murdering 43 villagers at Asimbazar, Bashdi and Valukjan, all under the Mymensingh District, on November 13, 1971. Reaz was handed a life term until death for murdering Abdul Mazid, Shahidullah Master, Jamshed Ali and two other unknown men at the Phulbaria town of Mymensingh District on August 25, 1971. He received the second life term until death for murdering three siblings, Altaf Ali Mondol, Taleb Ali Mondol and Sekander Ali Mondol, of village Bhalukjan in Mymensingh District on November 21, 1971.

On March 13, 2018, ICT-1 had sentenced  Amir Ahmed aka Razakar Amir Ali (70), Abul Kalam aka AKM Monsur (67) and Mohamad Joynal Abedin (73) to death; and Abdul Kuddus (84) to 20-years in jail for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. The tribunal framed three charges against the four, who were allegedly involved with the Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani Army, and the killing of at least 111 people in three incidents. Amir, Monsur and Joynal were given death penalty for killing more than a hundred people of Sreepur and Sonapur villages in Noakhali District on June 15, 1971. Abdul Kuddus was given 20 years in jail on the same charges. Amir, Monsur and Joynal were also given the death penalty for the abduction and killing of two unarmed freedom fighters of Pashim Karimpur and Debipur villages in Noakhali District on September 13, 1971. Amir and Monsur were also given the death penalty on a third charge – the abduction, torture and killing of at least nine people of Ramharitaluk, Debipur and Uttar Chakla villages in Noakhali District on September 13, 1971.

Again, on January 10, 2018, ICT-1 had handed down the death penalty to Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury (63) and Nesar Ali (75); and jail until death to Yunus Ahmed (71), Samsul Hossain Tarafder (65) and Mobarak Mia (66) for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. The verdict declared that all the five charges against the convicts were proved. Ujer and Nesar were sentenced to death and Shamsul, Yunus and Mobarak to life terms until death for murdering 14 Hindus of the village Kholagram in Moulvibazar District on November 29, 1971. All the five were sentenced to life imprisonment until death on two other charges, one for murdering Danu Mia of Baligaon village in Moulvibazar District on November 22, 1971; and the other for murdering Mohamad Nojabat Ali and Mohamad Abdul Basit of village Dakhkhin Kholagram in Moulvibazar District, after abducting them on November 29, 1971. Nesar, Yunus and Ujer were sentenced to life imprisonment until death on the charge of abducting Dr. Jamini Mohan Dev from Indeshwar Charitable Dispensary at Rajnagar in Moulvibazar District on November 25, 1971. Nesar and Ujer were also jailed for five years on a separate charge of abducting two Hindus of Uttarbhag village in Moulvibazar District and torturing them in confinement and setting fellow villagers’ houses on fire on November 27, 1971.

Thus far, the War Crimes (WC) Trials, which began on March 25, 2010, have indicted 124 leaders, including 50 from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI); 27 from the Muslim League (ML); 11 from Nezam-e-Islami (NeI); five from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP); two each from the Jatiya Party (JP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); 26 former Razakars (a prominent pro-Pakistan militia); and one former Al-Badr member. Verdicts have been delivered against 69 accused, including 43 death penalties and 26 life sentences. So far, six of the 43 people who were awarded the death sentence have been hanged. On September 3, 2016, JeI Central Executive member Mir Quasem Ali (63) was hanged at Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur District; on May 11, 2016, JeI Ameer (Chief) Motiur Rahman Nizami (75) was executed at Dhaka Central Jail; on November 22, 2015, JeI Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed (67) and BNP Standing Committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury (66) were hanged simultaneously at Dhaka Central Jail; on April 11, 2015, JeI Senior Assistant Secretary General Mohammed Kamaruzzaman (63) was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail; and on December 12, 2013, JeI Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Mollah (65), who earned the nickname ‘Mirpurer Koshai (Butcher of Mirpur)’ was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail. 20 others are absconding and another 17 cases are currently pending with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, out of 26 persons who were awarded life sentences, five persons have already died serving their sentence – former JeI Ameer Ghulam Azam (91), who died on October 23, 2014; former BNP Minister Abdul Alim (83), who died on August 30, 2014; former JeI National Assembly member S.M. Yousuf Ali (83), who died on November 17, 2016; former JeI member Gazi Abdul Mannan (88), who died on December 19, 2016; and former ML member Mahidur Rahman (88), who died on May 21, 2018. 13 others are absconding and another eight are lodged in various jails of the country.

Significantly, on March 11, 2017, Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution to observe March 25 as ‘Genocide Day’, marking the brutality carried out by the Pakistani Army and its collaborators on unarmed Bengalis on the black night of March 25, 1971. The Pakistani Army launched ‘Operation Searchlight’ on this date, and an estimated 7,000 people were killed and 3,000 arrested in a single night. Further, referring to the horrors of March 25, 1971, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her speech at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 22, 2017, stated, “I call upon the international community to take collective steps to ensure that such crimes are never committed at any time in the world. I believe, international recognition of all historical tragedies including the genocide of 1971 will play an important role in achieving our goal.”

Meanwhile, Police arrested five war crimes accused, Fazlul Haque Howlader (75), Abdul Mannan Howlader (74), Azahar Ali Howlader (88), Ashraf Ali Howlader (67) and Maharaz Howlader (68) in the Bhandaria area of Pirojpur District on May 21, 2018, in a case filed by Bijoy Krishna Bala of Purbo Pasharibunia village on October 10, 2015. Bijoy filed the case with the Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court in Pirojpur District, accusing them of murder, loot, arson and rape during the Liberation War in 1971. The court sent the arrestees to jail. Separately, on May 23, 2018, Police arrested Madhu Mia Talukder (62), chairman of the BNP Muradpur Union Parishad in Habiganj District, hours after ICT-1 issued an arrest warrant against him in a war crimes case during the 1971 Liberation War. While moving the petition Prosecutor Zead Al Malum stated that investigations against Madhu started in March 2018, and the investigating officer had already found evidence against him for the killing and rape committed in 1971.

Further, on May 30, 2018, the ICT-1 announced that it would deliver its verdict any day in a case filed against five Patuakhali men for allegedly committing crimes during the 1971 Liberation War. The accused include Esahaq Shikder (83), Abdul Goni Hawlader (72), Mohamad Awal aka Awal Moulavi (69), Abdus Sattar Pyada (65) and Solaiman Mridha (86), who are all in jail. On October 13, 2016, the prosecution pressed two charges against them: on May 4, 1971, the five, along with a Pakistani Army unit, killed 17 people of the Itbaria village, torched and looted 21 houses, and abducted six children and 15 women, whom they confined at the Patuakhali Circuit House and raped for 10 days. The prosecution produced 11 witnesses including the case's investigation officer and several documents to prove the charges. The defence, however, declined to produce any witness.

Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL)-led Government, which came to power after the decisive December 29, 2008, Parliamentary Elections, has shown enormous courage in pressing ahead with the War Crime Trials. The completion of this process will eventually prove to be an important chapter in the history of Bangladesh, bringing some measure of justice to millions who had suffered at the hands of the Pakistan Army and its collaborators in what was then East Pakistan. The AL-led Government has consistently reaffirmed and demonstrated its determination to honour its 2008 Election pledge to bring the War Criminals of the 1971 genocide to justice. The achievements on this count are already remarkable. The Trials are the unfinished agenda of the Liberation War, and need to be sustained, despite efforts of anti-liberation forces and their sympathizers in the Diaspora and international community, to disrupt the process. Crucially, the War Crimes trials have also played a decisive role in the Government’s couter-terrorism and de-radicalization strategies, as there was tremendous overlap between the parties and leaders involved in the atrocities of 1971, on the one hand, and patrons and participants in Islamist extremism and terrorism over the past decades, on the other.