Bokaro, Nov. 18: Inspector-general (IG) of North Chotanagpur Murari Lal Meena today asked his subordinates to start combing operations in their respective zones to flush out Maoists ahead of the Mandu by-election on November 30.

During a high-level meeting at his office in Sector V, the IG asked several senior officers, including two DIGs and six SPs, to leave no stone unturned to conduct a peaceful bypoll in the constituency, which has a strong presence of Naxalites.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Meena said conducting peaceful elections was his priority. “I have asked the SPs to take the help of paramilitary troops whenever required to flush out Maoists at any cost. I will make sure the bypoll is held peacefully,” the IG said.

Sources said the IG asked the police officers to step up security measures after receiving reports of the presence of armed Maoists in Mandu. As on most occasions in the past, the rebels have called for a boycott of the Assembly bypoll.

Sources added that Meena also directed the cops to start a fresh drive to check smuggling of coal, iron ore, et al and extortion of levy by Maoists.

The meeting, which was attended by DIG (coal belt) Laxman Singh, Hazaribagh DIG Suman Gupta and SPs Kuldip Dwivedi (Bokaro), Anish Gupta (Ramgarh), Pankaj Kamboj (Hazaribagh), Shambhu Thaur (Koderma), Amol Homkar (Giridih) and R.K. Dhan (Dhanbad), went on for over two hours.

BJP backs JMM

BJP today decided to support JMM nominee Jaiprakash Bhai Patel in Mandu bypoll.

“The BJP has taken the decision in the interest of the state and the prevailing political scenario,” BJP state vice-president Deepak Prakash said in Ranchi.