The state CID on Tuesday arrested five Maoists — Madhusudan Mandal, 44, Sachin Ghoshal, 42, Rajesh Mandal, 19, Siddhartha Mandal, 36, and Sanjay Mandal, 42 — from South 24 Parganas. While Madhusudan, alias Narayan, had spearheaded the Nandigram movement in 2007 from behind the scenes, Sachin is a senior member of the Maoist technical wing. They have been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
“Madhusudan is a big catch. He was the Nandigram CPI(Maoist) zonal committee secretary. He was behind the Nandigram movement and there are reports that after the arrest of Telugu Dipak, he had been promoted as a CPI(Maoist) state committee member,” said IG CID-I Nirajnayan Pandey. “We had very sketchy details about him except the fact that he had an extra finger in his right hand. That helped us zero down upon him,” Mr Pandey added.
Madhusudan, originally from Durgachowk in Haldia, had entered Nandigram in 2006. His name has been associated with the Maoist activities in Nandigram, including the murder of Sonachura gram panchayat pradhan and Trinamul leader Nishikanta Mandal. “Madhusudhan, now a top Maoist leader, at one point of time was an active member of the CPI(M),” said DGP Bhupinder Singh.
The police had a specific input that Madhusudan was going to meet a courier at Amtala bus-stand at Bishnupur in South 24 Parganas. On reaching the spot, the police found a man (with an extra finger in his right hand) waiting at the bus stop. As Sachin reached there, the police became sure that it was Madhusudan. “We had been tracking Sachin since the past 10 months. He was very close to Telugu Dipak,” revealed Mr Pandey.
Sachin was the one who had been arranging for all kind of logistic support for the Maoists whenever they changed base. His work also included maintaining the supply lines and look into the smooth supply of arms and ammunition.
Next came the courier, Rajesh Mandal. “Rajesh was carrying a letter for Madhusudhan from one Debu. From the content of the letter, it is evident that Debu is a member of the Nandigram zonal committee,” Mr Pandey added.
After the arrest of the trio, Sanjay and Siddhartha were arrested from Bonhooghly in Garia. Siddhartha, originally from Khejuri in East Midnapore, was also a Nandigram zonal committee member and was actively involved in the movement.