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4 suspected Naxalites, including three women, arrested

Four more suspected Naxals, including three women, have been arrested by the state anti-terrorism squad officers, taking the number of total arrested to six.

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Four more suspected Naxals, including three women, have been arrested by the state anti-terrorism squad officers, taking the number of total arrested to six.

Police sources claimed that all the arrested — Mayuri Bhagat alias Jenny, 23, Jyoti Chorghe, 19, Anuradha Sonule, 23, and Siddharth Bhosale, 24 — were members of Western Region Area Committee (WRAC) of the banned outfit CPI-Maoist. Just like for Indian Mujahideen members, Pune has proven to be a safe haven for naxals, sources said.

ATS chief Rakesh Maria said that based on the interrogation of those arrested earlier — Angela Sontakke and Sushma Ramteke — Bhagat and Chorghe were arrested on Wednesday night from a bus stand near Pune municipal corporation office. Sonule and Bhosale were arrested on Thursday from Pune and Chandwad area of Nashik.

“We have recovered Rs1.9 lakh, five cell phones bought by submitting bogus documents, SIM cards, bogus PAN cards, ID cards and naxal literatures from those arrested. They were produced before a local court, which remanded them in police custody till May 3,” Maria said.

“While Sontakke is secretary of Golden Corridor Committee, which focuses on inviting youths from Maharashtra and Gujarat into naxalism, she also heads the WRAC, formed in 2008, only to concentrate in urban areas of Maharashtra such as Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik,” Maria said.

When asked whether like Indian Mujahideen members, Pune is proving to be a safe haven for naxals, Maria said, “Pune is closely connected to other urban cities. All six were based in Pune and were operating from there. We are now going through their bank details in Pune to ascertain their source of money and where they have spent it.”

ATS sources also claimed that most of those arrested were working as couriers and were entrusted with the responsibility of passing information to other naxals across the state and country. “Chorghe was working as a full-time courier. This was to avoid suspicion with minimum use of cell phone. They were smart in their functioning and once when a colleague clicked Bhagat’s photo, she quit within a few days to avoid being identified,” said an officer.

Maria said most of those arrested were identified by naxal scouts in colleges and institutions and were recruited for the movement. “Bhagat and Bhosale were directly recruited by Sontakke from colleges,” he said.

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