June 17-19, 2009: CPI-Maoist cadres, who had abducted two personnel of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF), Ram Bhuwan Patel and Dhanjay Verma, from a hilly stretch in Bijapur District, Chhattisgarh, on June 17, killed them and dumped the bodies on a roadside in a forested area. Police said the victims' throats were slit with sharp edged weapons.
September 30, 2009: Six CPI-Maoist cadres abducted Police Inspector (Special Branch) Francis Induwar, posted in the Khunti District, Jharkhand. On October 3, the Maoists demanded the release of their senior leaders Kobad Ghandy, Chhatradhar Mahto and Chandra Bhushan Yadav. On October 6, the Jharkhand Police found the decapitated dead body of Francis Induwar on the Jamshedpur-Ranchi Highway, with a note from the Maoists saying that they could expect more of the same treatment if their demands were not met.
June 19, 2008: Three Special Police Officers (SPOs) were killed by the CPI-Maoist in the Banda Police Station limits of Dantewada District, Chhattisgarh. The SPOs had been abducted along with five Policemen following an encounter in the forests, seven kilometers away from Konta town, on June 18. The SPOs were taken to a Maoist camp in the forests blind-folded where they were asked to distance themselves from the Salwa Judum and the Police. Five of them were then let off and three others – Gopal, Bhadru and Lakshmaiah, were shot dead and their bodies abandoned near Banda village.
In two of the 13 incidents, the release came after Maoist demands were conceded. In the remaining eight, the abducted persons were released after various durations in captivity. None of the preceding incidents occurred in Bihar.
Nevertheless, Bihar has seen a steady worsening of Maoist-related violence over the past five years, after an earlier peak in 2005, when a total of 106 persons (25 civilians, 29 SF personnel and 52 Maoists) were killed. Total fatalities have, since, climbed from 40 in 2006, to 49 in 2007; 71 in 2008; 78 in 2009; and 53 in 2010 (till September 5, 2010). Crucially, the ratios of civilian and SF to Maoist fatalities have been adverse in every year after 2005, clearly demonstrating the loss of initiative that has resulted from the Nitish Kumar government’s declared policy position, and the rising threat to civilian lives and property.
Bihar is among India’s poorest states, and it takes an extraordinary capacity for delusion to believe that the cumulative developmental deficits and the sheer enormity of the population under poverty can quickly be transformed by any ‘strategy’ to ‘saturate’ affected areas with ‘development’, even if the most extraordinarily well oiled machinery of governance was in place. In Bihar, administration is a disaster and a national joke. Nevertheless, such fantasies continue to secure political endorsement, even as fundamental tasks of providing a modicum of security to life and property are comprehensively ignored.