PATNA: Bihar police on Monday said that the state will be made free from Naxal menace by 2025. Following Amit Shah's claim, the police announced that a detailed plan to drive out Maoists from South Bihar has been chalked out and its results will be visible in the next few months.
Additional director general of police (ADGP), Operations, Amrit Raj said that Maoists have already been driven out from North Bihar and no major incident of Maoist violence has been reported from this region.
"We hope to make the state free from Naxal menace by 2025, as we have focused our operation in South Bihar," he said.
According to police reports, eight districts including Gaya, Aurangabad, Kaimur, Jamui, Munger, Rohtas, Nawada and Lakhisarai were still occupied by Naxals.
"We have decided to set up five forward operating bases in the districts close to the Bihar-Jharkhand border to contain activities of the outlawed red rebels," ADGP (Operations) said.
The state has witnessed a decline of 72 per cent in Maoist related incidents in the last five years. The ADGP, however, claimed that only five districts--Gaya, Aurangabad, Jamui, Lakhisarai and Munger--have witnessed sporadic incidents but they were not serious.
The state police have information about some hardcore Maoists taking shelter in districts close to the Jharkhand border.
To weaken the sources of income of the extremists, the state police have started to confiscate their property under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Since 2012, illegal assets belonging to the Maoists worth Rs 6.75 crore have already been seized and proposals to attach property of Rs 8.97 crore have been sent to the Enforcement Directorate.
The property of 10 top most Maoist leaders, including Sandip Yadav, Pradumna Sharma, Masafir Sahni, Arvind Yadav, Rambabu Rajan, Pintu Rana, Binay Yadav, Anil Ram, Dilip Sahni and Abhijeet Yadav has been seized.
In addition, standing crops of Opium on 2523 acres of land were also damaged by police as part of the drive to check sources of income of the extremists.
The police also seized Rs 57 lakh in cash which were collected as levy by Maoists from businessmen, contractors and other affluent people. The seized money was collected by Maoists between 2020 and 2024.
The Special Task Force (STF), which has been raised to contain Naxal menace, is being revamped for the purpose.
Meanwhile, the state police have launched a manhunt for the arrest of Vivek, a Maoist leader operating in Aurangabad and its adjoining districts. Suresh Koda, who is active in Lakhisarai, Munger and Jamui districts, is also on the run after the state police stepped up its operation in the region, ADGP Amrit Raj claimed.