Red faction spreads fear in Latehar

RANCHI: Villagers in Kabri-Kotam village under Garu police station of Latehar district are living in constant threat of being eliminated. Though they have been facing different rebel groups active in the region, this time the threat has come from Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parished (JJMP), a breakaway faction of the CPI (Maoists). JJMP cadres shot dead one Noor Mohammad alias Laddu Khan, a shopkeeper in the village on Wednesday and threatened six others of similar consequences.
According to the villagers, the police are acting soft with the JJMP cadres and have left the villagers on their mercy.
“Despite receiving report about the killing, Latehar police did not come to recover the body for post-mortem and other formalities. The villagers were directed to bring the body to the police station,” said one of the villagers who has recently been threatened and is taking refuge in Ranchi.
When asked, officer incharge of Garu police station Suresh Prasad Ram said that police went to pick the body but by that time villagers had picked it up for carrying out last rites.
“The area is sensitive and remote so it takes time for us to reach there,” Ram said. He ,however, denied having information about half a dozen villagers being threatened by the JJMP.
Pappu Singh, elder brother of Chotu Singh, a resident of the villager who is in the hit list of JJMP, told TOI that the police are not ready to listen to the villagers and are hand in glove with the JJMP.
“We have to follow the diktat of every armed group active in the region and JJMP labels us as Maoist supporters whereas police are giving a free hand to the anti-Maoist groups to push them on backfoot,” he said.
Kabri-Kotam village is adjacent to Sarju, the Maoist-liberated area of the yesteryear. It was after Sarju action plan that the red rebels shifted their location from Sarju to adjoining villages, some of which are remote and disconnected from the mainland by rivers and channels. According to locals, these villages where the police are unable to carry out frequent raids, the responsibility of controlling the Maoists has been passed on covertly to the rival armed groups.
Those being threatened by the JJMP include Santosh Singh, Munil Yadav, Uday Prasad, Khurshid Miyan, Jaimangal Paswan and Chotu Singh. All of them have left the village and are taking refuge in different locations.