Maoist duo remanded in judicial custody by Uttarakhand court

Wanted Maoist Dev Chamyal and his woman accomplice have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a local court, police said today and alleged that the duo had planned to spread unrest in Almora by stoking protests against the proposed Pancheshwar dam.
Chamyal, who had been on the run for the last ten years and carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head, was arrested along with Bhagwati Bhoj from Chorgaliya area of Haldwani on Saturday evening following a tip-off, according to SSP Janmejay Khanduri.
"We received intimation that two Maoists were travelling from Almora to Sitarganj. They were intercepted by us at Chorgaliya while they were travelling in a bus," he said.

The arrest foiled their plan to spread unease in Almora through protests against the Pancheshwar Dam project, he said.
Cash rewards have been announced for the team that arrested the two Maoists.
Chamyal, who hails from Almora, was trained in Jharkhand and indulged in Maoist activities there for several years before coming back to Uttarakhand in 2013, the SSP said.

Both Chamyal and Bhoj had been charged with indulging anti-national activities in 2007, he said.
The police claimed that during interrogation, the two had admitted that they were behind the Maoist posters giving a poll boycott call prior to assembly elections in Uttarakhand.

"They were trying to spread terror by sticking posters with such messages and painting the walls with Maoist slogans at Dhari and Almora, asking and instigatingpeople to rebel against the government," the SSP said.