RANCHI, July 9, 2013: In the wake of Bodh Gaya serial blasts, intelligence officials in Jharkhand have recommended heavy deployment of Jharkhand Jaguar, the best equipped force in the state, at Baidyanath Dham temple, where the famous Shravani Mela will begin on July 23. Until now, security at the Deoghar shrine has been the job of regular police. 

A police source said apart from around 6,000 regular police personnel, around 300 Jharkhand Jaguar jawans - two companies - will be posted at Deoghar for a month to thwart any attack by terrorists or left wing extremists. Jharkhand police spokesperson S N Pradhan said: "We plan to deploy Jharkhand Jaguar in Deoghar on Wednesday as a precautionary measure." 

The state security agency is not going to take any chance on security of 50 lakh devotees who come to offer prayers at the famous shrine world during Shravani Mela. The Maoists ambush in Dumka, which shares its border with Deoghar, has further alerted the security agency. The move to deploy special forces has been made in the wake of an alert issued by state intelligence. 

National Investigation Agency (NIA) keeps Jharkhand under its scanners and six Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives have been arrested from Jharkhand over the last 11 years. In March, an NIA team arrested Manzar Imam, one of the members of Indian Mujahideen, wanted in connection with a number of blasts including the ones in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune and Ernakulam. 

In 2011 cops had arrested suspected IM operative Danish Riyaz, a resident of Bariyatu locality in Ranchi, from Hyderabad. 

Two suspected Jamshedpur based, two Hazaribagh based, and two Ranchi based operatives of IM have been arrested from Jharkhand and other parts of the country.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 9, 2013.