NIA arrests man for raising funds for naxals in Bihar

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a man for his involvement in revival of naxals in Magadh zone in Bihar.

Tarun Kumar was arrested by NIA on Monday, ANI reported.

"He was found involved in raising funds for naxals and was also trying to revive Magadh Zone by encouraging old cadre to join naxal again," NIA stated.

Meanwhile, a Naxalite wanted in 19 criminal cases and carrying a bounty of Rs 5 lakh was gunned down by police in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, an official said on Tuesday.

The face-off took place on the intervening night of Monday-Tuesday between the insurgents and the District Reserve Guard (DRG) in a forest surrounding Jabrametta under Katekalyan police station limits, he said.

The ultras targeted security personnel who were out on a search operation in a forest patch, prompting the DRG to retaliate, the official said. The rebels fled into the forest taking advantage of the darkness, PTI reported.

During a search of the area, the security personnel recovered the body of a slain Naxal, identified as Budhram Markam, a member of Katekalyan area committee of the outlawed movement, the official said.

As many as 19 cases were registered against Markam and he was carrying a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head. All the security personnel were safe and the search operation was underway in the area, he added.

Minister of State (MoS) for Home Nityanand Rai on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that the number of Naxal-affected districts has gone down from 70 in 2014 to 46 in 2021.

In a written reply, the Minister also informed that incidents of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Naxal violence have also significantly reduced from 1,091 in 2014 to 509 incidents in 2021.

Since 2014, Rai said, there has been a substantial increase in the magnitude of assistance provided to LWE-affected states by the government of India under various schemes of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and specific schemes for LWE areas of the other line ministries.

Approximately Rs 6,578 crore was released under various MHA schemes from Financial Year 2014-15 to Financial Year 2021-22 as compared to Rs 2,181 crore released from Financial Year 2006-07 to Financial Year 2013-14 for LWE management, said the Minister while giving an answer to a query raised by BJP MPs Sushil Kumar Singh and Sudarshan Bhagat.

(With inputs from agencies)

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