Journalists on cop radar

Getting helping hand from unexpected quarter Hazaribagh, May 23: Believe it or not, some journalists are backing Maoists in the state. At least the police believe so. Arrest of Jahoor Ansari, a Naxalite, has turned the suspicion of the force into belief. Ansari disclosed to the police the name of a journalist, who used to help him in several ways — right from collecting levy to providing information related to movement of the police. The men in uniform are now conducting raids to arrest the accused journalist, who according to the sources in the force, was a close associate of Ansari since long. Ansari admitted that he was always helped by the journalist at the hour of need. Interestingly, the arrested rebel claimed that he was even accompanied by the journalist to collect the levy recovered from his possession. This is not the first instance of police officials coming across the name of a journalist working as “informer” of Maoists. When a zonal commander of the Maoist outfit, Tilakji, was nabbed two months ago, he claimed a prominent journalist of the town used to inform him about the plans of the police in lieu of money. But the police did not take any action against that journalist, as he had strong connections with bigwigs of politics as well as the police force. Hazaribagh superintendent of police Praveen Kumar Singh claimed that journalists of Naxalite dominated areas were providing information to Maoists. Investigations in this regard revealed that journalists initially try to befriend Maoists to get breaking news. But soon the scribes turn informers of Maoists for a premium. They provide extremists with the strategy of the police against monthly payment, he said. Such journalists maintain good relationship with lower-rung officers of the police and get information related to combing operations. Sources in the police department said leak of information related to combing operations surprised them on several occasions. “Now it appears that some of the journalists were behind this. The practice will definitely bring disrepute to media,” a police official said. Police officials admitted that it was not the first time when a rebel accused a journalist of passing on information to them. The police have decided to take stern action against the journalists hand-in-glove with rebels. They said efforts were on to nab the Keredari-based reporter, who helped Ansari to give police the slip on several occasions. The Telegraph

MLA sniffs police nexus

MLA sniffs police nexus

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CPI-ML activists take out a rally in protest against the clash at Gandey. Pix: Shahanwaz Akhtar Giridih, May 23: Hundreds of CPI-ML supporters today marched to the district collectorate office, shouting slogans against Giridih police, for safeguarding blackmarketers and JVM leaders and implicating CPI-ML leaders in false cases. “Giridih police kalabazario aur JVM netaon ko sanrakshan dena bandh karo aur maale netaon ko jhuthe mukaddamon mein phasana bandh karo (Giridih police do not give protection to blackmarketers and JVM leaders and stop implicating ML leaders in fake cases),” was their agenda. The rally was a fallout of the clashes at Gandey, that took place yesterday, after some villagers and political leaders clashed with CPI-ML leaders over the blackmarketing of foodgrains. At least seven persons, including two CPI-ML leaders and five villagers, were injured in the clash. Later, Gandey police are reported to have recovered two pistols and six bombs from the CPI-ML’s Gandey office. The police also arrested three CPI-ML leaders. Several CPI-ML leaders including Bagoder MLA Vinod Singh, Rajkumar Yadav, Ibnul Hasan Basru, Rajesh Yadav and Satyanarayan were present in the rally. Before the protest march, Singh, reacting on the entire episode, vehemently criticised the role of the police and administration for protecting the black marketers. “Yesterday’s incident was not unexpected as in the last two or three months our leaders and cadres were checking the blackmarketers of foodgrains. Not only the people who are involved in it were in panic but those who gave them protection were also planning to implicate us in fake cases”, Vinod told reporters. “In fact, when for the first time the clash took place around 11.30 am I was the first one to inform the police superintendent about the incident,” Singh said. Significantly, for the past one year, CPI-ML had opened a war against blackmarketers in Giridih district and in recent times it had gathered momentum as several such cases came to the fore in different parts of the district. Singh also alleged that the police, along with blackmarketers and political leaders, were collectively trying to suppress CPI-ML’s war against blackmarketers. Vinod Singh, the son of assassinated leader Mahendra Singh, also accused the CBI of not doing “justice” to his father’s murder probe. “It has been almost three years since the CBI has been investigating the case, but neither has it submitted a report nor could it arrest anybody,” said the CPI(ML) MLA. He, in fact, accused the premier investigating agency of being under severe political pressure as far as this investigation is concerned. However, he refused to clarify who or what was pressurising the CBI.

Blogspots betray proof of Naxal ambitions

NAGPUR:Naxalites, who have their presence in more than half of the Indian states are now trying to go global, with the modern-day facility of Internet blogging. It is now out in the open that the Naxalites, or in the recent times the Maoists, have created a flood of the blogspots and Internet user groups to promote their ideology as well as to defame the Government.

Blogging, which has provided a new means of expressing oneself on the internet so that others may read it, has attracted the attention of the Maoists also. Many top websites provide the space for blogspots as well as host the Internet user groups under various categories.

The Maoists have started making full utilisation of these facilities. Even if one types the word Maoist in any search engine, the results display a number of blogspots and user group addresses. Notably, a most popular and controversial user group has several communities titled after some keywords like “Maoist movement”,” Naxalite movement”, “Resistance”, “Naxal revolution”, etc. The links to blogspots also open from these communities.

Interestingly, though the owners of these communities have given their names, possibility is that they might be fake. There are communities that are owned by Bhagat Singh and The Chairman. These communities have ?forum? to discuss various current subjects. Besides, they conduct regular polls on various topics. The introduction of these communities clearly state that they have been formed to promote and discuss Maoism and Naxalism, and to further the ?movement? or ?revolution?.

Some of the pro-Maoist Internet user groups also display newspaper cuttings, poems on the latest happenings at Nandigram, and some even have the videos. Notably, though the members of a single community or user group seem to be just around 200, the combined membership may well account for an unthinkable number. Naxalite movement, Resistance, Naxal revolution, etc. The links to blogspots also open from these communities.

Global presence: An Internet user group has a map of the Maoist spread across the globe. The map shows the highest density of Maoists in North America, Europe including the United Kingdom, and India. The map highlights the presence of Maoists in African continent, Australia, South America, and the other parts of Asia including Pakistan. This clearly sends the message that in addition to terrorism, Maoism is trying to spread its network across the world.

Hind vada