Raipur: Targeting armed cadres of the banned CPI (Maoist), the National Investigation Agency has raided 12 locations linked to the deadly Aranpur IED blast of May 2023 that killed 10 DRG personnel and a civilian driver.
Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Vijay Sharma lauded the NIA’s synchronised raids across 12 locations in Sukma and Dantewada districts, describing the operation as a “decisive blow” to Maoist financial networks and a “vital step toward lasting peace in Bastar”.
Speaking to reporters at his secretariat office, the Deputy CM said, the NIA’s action is not just investigative, it’s surgical.
“By hitting the economic spine of these extremists, we are choking their ability to wage war on the state and its people,” he said.
The deadly attack was executed by the Darbha Division Committee of Naxalites on April 26, 2023, near Pedka village in the Aranpur police station area of Dantewada district.
During the recent raids, the NIA recovered several critical and incriminating items, including cash, handwritten documents, and receipt books used by the Maoist organisation for levy collection.
Investigations have established that all the arrested individuals were directly linked to CPI (Maoist) cadres responsible for orchestrating the blast. The NIA continues its probe into the matter.
To date, two charge sheets have been filed in the case, and 27 people have been apprehended. With 27 arrests in the Aranpur case so far, more raids targeting urban sympathisers in Raipur and Bhilai.
Sharma said Bastar’s children deserve classrooms, not coffins.
“Today’s action is their future speaking louder than gunfire,” he said.
The raids began at 5 a.m. across remote villages like Konta, Chintagufa, and Errabor. In one instance at Gadiras, NIA sleuths – backed by CRPF CoBRA commandos – cordoned off a thatched safehouse, seizing a laptop allegedly used to coordinate levy demands from iron-ore transporters.
He linked the operation to the broader anti-Maoist strategy under ‘Mission Bastar 2026’, which aims to establish 48 new security camps and develop 12,000 km of all-weather roads by 2026.
The Aranpur blast, triggered by a 40-kg IED planted under a culvert on the Dantewada-Sukma highway, had exposed intelligence gaps. Friday’s recoveries include GPS coordinates matching the blast site, strengthening the probe. “This connects the dots from funding to execution,” Sharma said.
(IANS)
