Raipur: The impact of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic captured the Maoist community in Chhattisgarh during the resurgence.
Dantewada police officials arrested a Maoist on Tuesday, who was allegedly leading a bunch of villagers from Burgum towards Silger, to protest against the police camp. According to the police the locals were persuaded to join the protest rally.
The arrested Maoist is identified as a member of Chetna Natya Manch, the cultural wing of the Maoist community. Dantewada SP Abhishek Pallava informed that the arrested Maoist, Gangaram Mandavi, 26 was arrested from the Aranpur region when he was leading a group of villagers. The above information was extracted by the police during the interrogation of the arrested.
It is reported that Mandavi, had recently come to Chhattisgarh from Andhra Pradesh and was admitted to a COVID Care Centre as he was infected by the novel virus. SP Abhishek stated that Mandavi was at the state COVID centre for 15 days. Citing the number of surrenders in recent times, SP said that large numbers of Maoists were being infected by the virus due to the absence of COVID behaviour practice in the community.
“Members of Maoist organisations aren’t wearing masks nor are they maintaining social distance. The villagers later accepted that they were being forced to join the protest and when police officials made them understand that it wasn’t right to gather in large numbers during the pandemic, they were convinced and returned home,” SP said in a statement.