Chhattisgarh police arrest key Maoist sympathiser

BASTAR/RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested a key Maoist operative who was allegedly acting as a spokesperson of the outlawed Communist Party of India (CPI -Maoist) and also engaged in propaganda for the extremist outfit through social media.

Police claimed that accused Abhay Devdas Nayak’s name surfaced for the first time as a Maoist spokesperson in 2017 after an improvised explosive device (IED) was recovered in Darbha region of Bastar along with some Maoist literature and pamphlets.

“Abhay Devdas Nayak alias Lodda, who hails from Bengaluru, was under the scanner of Bastar police and state intelligence branch (SIB) for the last one-and-a-half years. He is from the team of urban Naxal wing and was engaged in propaganda. He was arrested from Delhi airport on June 1 and kept under police remand,” said DM Awasthi, special director general of police (Anti-naxal Operations) , adding that a lookout notice was issued against him in 2017.