Bhangar movement: Main accused Naxalite leader arrested from outside a hospital in Odisha

Kolkata/Bhubaneswar: Police arrested a Naxalite leader, the main accused in the movement against a proposed power grid in Bhangar of South 24 Parganas district, from Bhubaneswar on Thursday, a senior official said. Alik Chakraborty, who has been booked for his involvement in the Bhangar movement, was picked up from a tea stall outside a private hospital in Bhubaneswar this morning, SP Baruipur, Arijit Sinha, told PTI. Acting on a tip-off about the presence of Chakraborty, the security personnel of the two states executed a joint raid. Chakraborty, who is in his mid-40s, had organised a “movement” in Bhangar against a proposed power grid that witnessed violence last year resulting in the death of one person. “We had inputs that he had gone to Bhubaneswar for treatment. We picked him up from a tea stall outside a hospital in Bhubaneswar,” Sinha said. “Chakraborty is not a Maoist. He is wanted in certain cases in West Bengal**,”** Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Kumar Sahoo said. Chakraborty was undergoing treatment at the private hospital for some time after managing to give a slip to the West Bengal police. The CID was on the lookout for Chakraborty, a politburo member of small Naxalite outfit CPI(ML) Red Star. “Apart from the Unlawful Activities [Prevention] Act, 1967 (UAPA), Chakraborty was wanted in several cases including murder and torching police vehicles and others,” the police officer said. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had been claiming that Maoists were inciting villagers in Bhangar.