Intelligence agencies are probing whether the Maoists, who abducted four policemen in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district, were planning a jailbreak to free other Maoists cadres lodged in nearby jails.
The Union home ministry has rushed two battalions (nearly 2000 personnel) of Central paramilitary forces, trained by the Army, for deployment in anti-Naxal operations in Jamui, Lakhisarai and Munger districts in Bihar. The Centre does not want to take any chances to allow a repeat of the November 2005 jailbreak which had been carried out by nearly 400 Maoists in Bihar’s Jehanabad district after Maoist prisoners seized control of a heavily fortified Bihar jail and turned it into a “liberated zone” for eight hours.
The ministry has made it clear that these personnel will not be deployed in election duty in the poll-bound state. The home ministry has also sought redeployment of Central forces to consolidate their presence in “violent’’ zones dominated by the rebels. This includes the Bihar-Jharkhand border and the tri-junction of West Bengal-Orissa-Jharkhand besides Naxal-affected districts of Chhattisgarh. The Centre has also redeployed Central forces in Jharkhand. The forces have been redeployed from the West Bengal border to Palamu, Chatra and Latehar districts in Jharkhand.
Sources said that the Bihar police was aware of the Maoist group, which sneaked in from Jharkhand, camping in the area on the border of Chanan-Kajra forests and hills in Lakhisarai district in the state. Sources disclosed that the Bihar military police personnel, consisting of ex-Armymen, who took on the Maoists in their den were not trained in anti-Naxal operations and soon exhausted their ammunition. All arms were looted by the Maoists. “The fact that the Maoists demanded the release of comrades held by the police recently raises suspicion about the real intention of the Maoists,” a government official said.