The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has faced its biggest setback in recent times with security agencies informing the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) that eight ‘Central Committee (CC)’ members have been neutralised in last nine months, reports The Week on May 9. This makes up for one third of the total strength of the apex policy making body of the outfit. Five other ‘CC’ members were arrested in Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and Kerala, based on months-long intelligence operations. Intelligence officials said the losses have lent a psychological blow to the outfit. It began with arrest of Prashant Bose alias Kishan da, a ‘politburo’ member and second in the Maoist hierarchy, by Jharkhand Police last year (2021). He was heading the eastern zone and had remained elusive for over forty years. He was arrested along with his wife and ‘CC’ member Sheela Marandi. Prashant Bose was also guiding efforts of the outfit to revive overground activity in northern parts of the country.
Subsequently, Kanchan alias Jyotish, another ‘CC’ member was arrested by Assam Police—a significant setback to the outfit since he had been especially sent from Jharkhand to Assam in 2019 to revive party activities in the state and was active in setting up secret cells and frontal organisations, said intelligence sources. Kanchan had also been evading arrest for decades. Prior to his arrest, his real name was believed to be Ranjit Bose, but was discovered to be Arun Bhattacharjee on arrest. Another ‘CC’ member, Mithilesh Mehta alias Bhikhari ji, who was leading the party in Western Jharkhand from his base at Burha Pahar was arrested in Bihar. He had rejoined the outfit in 2018 soon after being released from prison after eleven years. Meanwhile, B.G. Krishnamurthy, the ‘CC’ member heading the outfit at the Kerala-Karnataka-Tamil Nadu (KKT) tri-junction, was arrested on the Kerala-Karnataka border.
Further, Milind Teltumbde ‘CC’ member, who was leading the expansion efforts of the outfit at the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh tri-junction died in an encounter with Maharashtra Police on November 13, 2021, the first death of a ‘CC’ member in an encounter since 2016. Two ‘CC’ members, Akkiraju Hargopal alias RK and Yapa Narayan Rao alias Haribhushan died in the forests on account of medical ailments and reluctance of senior leaders of the outfit to venture into urban areas for fear of arrest. UMHA officials said the loss of senior Maoist leaders has created a leadership vacuum in the outfit. The government is hoping that in the absence of a credible second rung leadership and the extension of the security grid in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) theatre, it will be able to disconnect the Maoist movement from the local population in all regions barring Chhattisgarh. “Even there, security forces have now reached areas, which were regarded as Maoist strongholds,” said an UMHA official.