Modi assassination plot: IB keeps a close eye on PLGA

With the Pune police revealing that it had busted a plot by naxalites to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Intelligence Bureau is keeping a close watch on the activities of the dreaded People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA).

The PLGA which has over 10,000 members is the armed wing of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), which is a banned outfit in India. The Pune police had recovered a letter that speaks about an assassination plan on Modi. It went on to say that the the plan was to undertake a Rajiv Gandhi like incident.

This group is capable of carrying out big attacks and incidents such as the one in Dantewada where 76 CRPF personnel were killed in 2010 is proof of the same. IB sources tell OneIndia that the composition of this group is restricted to the jungle areas and they battle security forces. However with the kind of resources they possess they are capable of assassination bids, although for them to penetrate into the PM's security is next to impossible unless there is a human error.

The PLGA is controlled by the Central Military Commission of the CPI (Maoists). The PLGA is headed by Hidima, who is one of the most dangerous members of the outfit. The PLGA has however seen a steady decrease in its numbers. Over the past decade, the number has steadily decreased from nearly 38,000 to 10,000. However the Maoists deny this and say that they have only decreased in terms of geographic presence and not in terms of numbers.

The PLGA is a woman heavy unit. Almost 40 per cent of its composition are women. Many units of the PLGA which is referred to as the Jan militia have women as their commanders. This is a deliberate ploy as naxals are known to put women and children in front so that they act as shields.

The PLGA also has a full-fledged manufacturing unit. While 80 per cent of the arms are manufactured in their units, the remaining are snatched from security forces. However the arms used the by this group is very sophisticated these days considering they started off by using bows and arrows.

The PLGA was founded on December 2 2000, which happened to be the first death anniversary of three central committee members who were killed in an encounter in Koyyuru. In the year 2004, the PLGA merged with the CPI (Maoists) and went on to become its military wing.

The funding for this group comes from various channels which includes foreign grants, sympathetic grants through urban naxals and extortion. They have a well oiled machinery set up in the urban areas through which funds are moved with ease into the jungles. They rely on several NGOs to move their money which is invested in man power and arms.