Supply of aid to Naxals blocked after crackdown on conduits, claim police

With its recent crackdown on the urban support network and couriers of Maoists, Chhattisgarh Police has claimed to have choked the main supply chain of weapons, medicines and other kind of aid to Naxals operating from their stronghold in Bastar region of the state.

Police recently arrested nine persons, all residents of Kanker region who they claimed were acting as conduits and were part of the channel providing logistic and financial support to the extremists linked to the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the banned CPI(Maoist).

These persons, two of them prominent businessmen from north Bastar, were working under the direction of Prabhakar, a divisional committee rank member, according to a highly-placed intelligence official.

Prabhakar is a very important figure in the outlawed red organisation and was solely handling the entry of all Naxal-related materials through various regions surrounding Bastar and Gadchiroli (Maharashtra), he said.

"The interrogation of Naxal conduits revealed that Prabhakar is the man who looks after the entry and exit of all kinds of material in DKSZC-controlled area which is spread over south Chhattisgarh and Gadchiroli," the official said.

"Intelligence Bureau inputs suggest that Prabhakar had shifted to deep forests in Abhujmad area from Kanker after the arrest of couriers as most of them frequented his usual locations and he feared that their grilling may create trouble for him," he added.

During investigation, it also came to light that Prabhakar was a close relative of Ganpathi, "Supreme Commander" and General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Maoist). He hails from the native region of Ganpathi in Karimnangar district, Andhra Pradesh, the official said.  "Due to his proximity to Ganpathi, Prabhakar was entrusted with such a big responsibility of handling the supply chain.

"Prabhakar's role is being considered equivalent to that of Gudsa Usendi (who surrendered recently) who was handling the media operations of DKSZC."  "Of the nine Naxal conduits, Neeraj Chopra, a business, and Sukhnath Nareti were said to be very close to Prabhakar and major links in this network operating from Kanker in North Bastar."