The Magadh zone: Why naxals are desperate to revive it?

To fund their movement, the naxals raise funds through production and smuggling of contrabands and farming of banned items such as marijuana and opium takes place on a large scale in these districts.

New Delhi, July 28: The revival of the Magadh zone has been on the agenda of the naxalites for long. Earlier this week, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested one Tarun Kumar, a resident of Bihar who is a member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), in connection with this case.

The NIA said that the accused persons had planned violent acts and also conspired to raise funds for the procurement of arms and ammunition. They were also training their cadres in the fabrication of Improvised Explosive Devices.

During the probe, the NIA learnt that the accused had planned to link up incarcerated naxalites and Over Ground Workers (OWG) in various jails for commission of violent crimes. Kumar, the NIA said was trying to encourage the old cadres to join the naxal movement again and carry out violent acts.

The case was registered suo motu by the NIA following the arrest by one Vijay Kumar Arya who was aiming to revive the activities of the naxals in parts of Bihar and Jharkhand. Arya, a central committee member of the outfit who is in his 60s was recruiting new members and also collecting levies.

The NIA dug out information with inputs from the state and central agencies about the presence of top naxalites in Bihar's Shahbad and Magadh zones. Arya a postgraduate in economics from Magadh University worked as a lecturer before joining the CPI (Maoists) in 2004.

An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that Arya was instrumental in getting the new and old guard together. They were trying to revive the activities of the naxals and the module went onto be known as the Magadh zone.

Data given by the Bihar police says that the Magadh division in the state is a hotbed of criminal activities, including Maoist actions. The Magadh division where the naxals are attempting a revival comprises Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad and Nawada districts. It has been a known bed for naxalite activity due to the dense forest cover.

To fund their movement, the naxals raise funds through production and smuggling of contrabands. Farming of banned items such as marijuana and opium takes place on a large scale in these districts.

The 2021 data shows that that the Gaya police had recovered 803 kilograms of marijuana, 516 kilograms of opium and 5,111 kilograms of Soda. The Nawada police on the other hand had seized 750 kgs of marijuana, 151 saplings of marijuana and 23 kgs of nausadar. Arwal police seized 74.61 kg marijuana saplings, 1.04 kg marijuana, and 930 gram heroine. Aurangabad and Jahanabad police seized 560 kg and 278 kg of contrabands, respectively in 2021.

In these districts the naxal activities are frequent. However a period of time due to action by the security forces, their actions have gone down. Realising this they are attempting a revival by engaging the new guard and getting the old guard back, the official cited above said.