Ballia: Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested five Naxalites including a woman from Ballia district, police said on Thursday.
All of them were arrested on Tuesday from Basantpur village of Sahatwar police station area of the district while they were having a secret meeting under mask organisations to expand their activities in Purvanchal, according to a statement from the UP-ATS.
According to the police, on the basis of input ATS raided the designated spot and arrested all five accused identified as Tara Devi, Lallu Ram, Satya Prakash, Rammurat and Vinod Sahni, all residents of Ballia.
Literature, documents, pamphlets, related to the banned organization CPI (Maoist), seven mobile phones, and a 9 mm pistol along with cartridges have been recovered from the accused. Ten thousand rupees in cash were also recovered.
According to the ATS, CPI (Maoist) was planning for the expansion of the organisation and enhancement of Naxal activities in the bordering districts of UP, Bihar and Jharkhand. These people were preparing to raise an armed rebellion within the country through mask organisations.
Tara Devi alias Manju alias Manisha, an active member of Mahila Squad, has been associated with the organization since 2005. She has been involved in many Naxalite incidents and used to see the recruitment for the organisation, said the police. (with Agency inputs)
