Chhattisgarh: Police seizes branded fabric meant for making Maoist uniforms

Raipur: Maoists have begun using branded fabrics to stitch their uniforms in Chhattisgarh's insurgency- hit Bastar region, a senior police official said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Chhattisgarh state police seized a major haul of 'Raymond' brand fabric from Dantewada district and arrested a local trader while he was on way to allegedly deliver the consignment to a Maoist leader, the police official said.

"Acting on a specific tip-off, Pukhraj Chandak (35) was nabbed when he was heading towards Surnar village under Katekalyan police station limits from Geedam along with the fabrics consignment in a pick-up van," Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap said.

"About 260 metres of Raymond brand fabric which was meant for stitching Maoist uniforms were seized from his vehicle," Kashyap said.

During interrogation, Chandak revealed that he had bought the fabrics a month ago, from Ahmedabad in Gujarat after receiving instructions from the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) Darbha region military commander-in-chief Deva.

The consignment was to be lifted from a garage in Geedam and transported to Deva on Tuesday, the SP said. However, the trader was intercepted and apprehended before it could be transported, the SP said.

Earlier, Chandak had acted as a Maoist courier and supplied medicines, ration, shoes, uniforms and other daily- use commodities the Maoist guerrillas in Dantewada and Sukma districts in order to make easy money, he said.

Further investigation would reveal crucial details about the Maoist supply chain in the Bastar region, he said, adding, Chandak is being interrogated.

Police department sources confirmed that it is the first time they recovered branded fabrics meant for stitching Maoist uniforms in the state.

"Earlier, we have recovered laptops and electronic gadgets from Maoist camps but it is for the first time that we have recovered branded fabrics meant to stitch Maoist uniforms," a senior police official said.

Since it was a huge consignment, it estimated that the Maoists plan to stitch uniforms for around 150 cadres, the official added.