KOLKATA: The Kolkata Police Special Task Force (STF) on Thursday arrested Asim Mandal, a central committee member and secretary of the West Bengal State Committee-I of the CPI (Maoist).Mandal was nabbed from Lalat in Patashpur, Purba Medinipur district, after evading law enforcement for more than 15 years across inter-state forest belts.West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari welcomed the arrest in a post on X.“I commend the Officers and Personnel of the Kolkata Police. STF in successfully tracking and apprehending Asim Mandal, Central Committee Member and Secretary of the West Bengal State Committee-I, CPI (Maoist), from Lalat; Patashpur, Purba Medinipur.”“Evading law enforcement for more than 15 years across inter-state forest belts, his apprehension on the basis of sharp technical intelligence demonstrates the exceptional operational competence of our Police Force,” Adhikari said in the post.“I want to make it categorically clear that West Bengal Government will not tolerate any attempt to revive or expand the network of ‘Red Terror’ within our State borders. No extremist ideology will be allowed to jeopardize the safety & security of the People and jeopardize the development of our State. The law will take its strictest course to demolish any such audacious attempt,” he added further.Mandal, a native of Fulchak village under Chandrakona police station in West Midnapore district, is said to have become involved in left-wing extremist activities while he was a student in the 1980s.He later joined the People’s War Group and worked in the Sarenga and Goaltor areas of West Bengal, as well as in Gurabanda in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district.
