Nine Maoists including five women arrested in Jharkhand

Jamshedpur, June 2 (ANI): Nine Maoists including five women and hard-core rebels were tracked down and arrested by the police personnel at Jamshedpur, the industrial city of Jharkhand on Tuesday.

Acting on a tip off, the police had initially detained 29 persons suspected of being Maoists and their supporters. These persons had organised a rally with a plan to declare statewide shutdown on June 1.

Consequent to thorough interrogation, the police found 20 among them to be innocent and the rest nine were taken to custody.

"From the people we had detained, we have found that Geeta, a member of Dasta Maoist outfit and other hard core Maoists who used to work as logistics and work for strengthening the unit. We have identified nine of them and will present them in court," said Navin Kumar Singh, Superintendent of Police, Jamshedpur.

Maoist rebels, who number at least 22,000 in India and control some of India's mineral-rich areas, say they are fighting for the rights of the poor, landless and marginal farmers.

They often attack and kill police and politicians, blast government buildings and damage railway tracks, in an insurgency that has killed thousands since its inception in the 1960s.

India is battling Maoist rebels, also known as 'Naxalites', in large swathes of the eastern, central and southern countryside, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as one of the gravest threats to the country's security.

The state worst hit by Maoist violence is Chhattisgarh, where rebels killed 241 people, including security forces, in 2008 alone. (ANI)