Police arrest four suspect Maoists in West Bengal

BANKURA - West Bengal Police have nabbed four suspected Maoists in the state’s Bankura District.

The arrested suspects were identified as Somlal Mandi, Joysing Baskey, Sripati Saren and Mansing Baskey. They were nabbed on Saturday in connection with the recent killing of two relatives of a local Left leader.

The suspects were produced before a court on Sunday. Three of the accused were placed police custody for five days, while the fourth was remanded to 14-days judicial custody.

However, Kanu Baskey, the brother of Mansing Baskey, one of the suspects arrested, said: “Our family is facing trouble because my brother has been arrested, although he is a simpleton. My brother was working as an employee and has a wife and two children. How will they now manage their lives.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoists as the country’s biggest internal security threat, but they say they are crusading against the prevailing political system, upholding the cause of the poor and marginal farmers and landless labourers.

The movement started as a peasant revolt in Naxalbari village of West Bengal in 1967, giving the name Naxalism to their movement and Naxalites to the cadres. (ANI)