Jamshedpur: East Singhbhum police have intensified the hunt for Maoists by putting up posters with photographs and details of six wanted extremists, including CPI (Maoist) regional committee member Asim Mandal alias Akash, who carries a Rs 1-crore bounty.The posters were pasted on Sunday at markets, intersections, railway stations, bus stands and other prominent locations in about a dozen villages along the Jharkhand-Bengal border, especially under Galudih, Ghatsila and MGM police station limits.Police have appealed to residents to help security forces with information that could lead to the arrest of the wanted Maoists and the complete elimination of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from the district.The posters list the rewards announced for the six Maoists: Asim Mandal alias Akash (Rs 1 crore), Ram Prasad Mardi alias Sachin (Rs 15 lakh), Mita alias Nayantara (Rs 10 lakh), Mangal Mahato alias Pandey (Rs 5 lakh), Malti Murmu alias Malti (Rs 2 lakh) and Bulu Mahato alias Giti (Rs 1 lakh).Police also issued mobile numbers of East Singhbhum SSP (9431706480), Rural SP (9470199228) and the deputy superintendents of police posted in Musaboni, Ghatsila and Patamda to help people share information.Police sources said all six belong to the Asim Mandal squad and are trying to regain the outfit’s foothold in the Dalma-Jungle Mahal forest belt after Maoists moved out of Saranda forest amid intensified anti-Naxal operations.Security forces have been conducting regular combing and search operations in the dense, hilly forests of Dalma and along the Kandra-Galudih stretch for two months.DIG, Kolhan Range, Anuranjan Kispotta said anti-Maoist operations would be intensified further.“Only a handful of Maoists are left in the region. It is better for them to lay down their arms and join the mainstream,” he said.
