The road leading to Deora-Bandoli village in Darbhanga. Picture by Jitendra Kumar Shrivastava

Darbhanga, Jan. 25: The Maoist sympathisers have started envying the operatives allegedly nurturing the Darbhanga module of terror in the region. Reason: The state police frequently raid villages in search of Naxalites but terror suspects’ hideouts remain untouched.

“Woh qatl bhi karte hain to charcha nahin hoti; Hum aah bhi bharte hain to ho jate hain badnam (Even if they commit murder they are not discussed but we earn bad name even if we express our grief)” is how a Maoist sympathiser at Garri village described the situation arising out of the arrest of terror suspects Naqi Ahmad Sheikh and Nadeem Ahmad of nearby Deora-Bandoli by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

A road branched out from Muzaffarpur-Darbhanga national highway at Atarbel takes one to the jig-jag Jale-Garri-Jogiara-Deo Bandoli pathway dotted with densely populated cluster of settlements believed to be the hotbed of Maoist activities in the region.

Though the Maoists and jehadis allegedly “smuggle” arms, explosives, fake currencies and other wherewithal through their links across the border, the Naxalite sympathisers are simply “envious” at the approach the state police adopts while dealing with the Naxalite outfits vis-à-vis the operatives allegedly nurturing the Darbhanga module of terror in the region.

What has surprised the nearby villagers, supposedly Naxalite sympathisers, is the fact that the police officers from the police station- to divisional headquarters-level were not even ready to discuss the Mumbai ATS raids at Deo-Bandoli and recovery of stolen bikes with Mumbai registration numbers that Naqi and Nadeem had allegedly used in connection with the July, 2011 blasts in Mumbai.

“They (state police) arrested Santosh Jha, the zonal commander of the Tirhut-Darbanga-Motihari zone of the CPI (Maoists) on the India-Nepal border, demonstrating their achievement. They raid our huts at night and describe even some pieces of papers as Naxalite books. But they do not even utter a word on terror suspects, sitting pretty in the minority community’s settlements,” a Garri Dalit man said, ruing that the STF jawans had raided his hut only three days back.

In a way, he is right. The local police are tightlipped over the eight-member Mumbai ATS team raiding the Deo-Bandoli village on January 17 night. The local cops were not ready to discuss even the arrest of the Md Gayur, who, according to central security agencies, had introduced Yasin Bhatkal, the main architect of the Mumbai blasts, to Naqi, Nadeem and Azmal Zamali from nearby Madhubani in November.

“We don’t do a follow-up on what the Mumbai ATS or National Investigation Agency (NIA) had done in the area. Our police stations simply co-operate when they come here and escort them to their dictated destinations. Our role is limited to maintaining law and order and ensuring social harmony besides investigating the criminal cases,” a superintendent of police said.

In private conversation, the local officers revealed that the ruling or opposition political establishments did not want the state police personnel to follow up on the ATS or NIA actions in issues related to ISI activities or the countless seminaries mushrooming in the villages from Kishanganj to Darbhanga and from Muzaffarpur to Sitamarhi on the India-Nepal border.

“We have not received any written instruction from our political bosses. But it is clear to us that the issues involving the minority community of the region in terror activities are politically sensitive. Be it the ruling party leaders or the Opposition, they do not want us to do anything that brings the role and integrity of the minority community under scanner,” a senior IPS officer posted in the region said.

Going by the response from the state’s leadership, the senior police officers’ remark is understandable.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar sharply reacted on MNS chief Raj Thackeray linking the Bihar people’s presence with the terror strikes in Mumbai. But he preferred not to react on the Mumbai ATS raiding Deo Bandoli and the national investigating agencies’ discovery of a “Darbhanga module” of Indian Mujahideen.

The RJD secretary-general, Ram Kripal Yadav and the JD(U)’s Taslimuddin have described the Mumbai ATS action as an “effort” to implicate the “innocent” people from Bihar and give a bad name to the state. But they did spend a word on their raid at Deo Bandoli.