Jharkhand Maoist leader carrying ₹15 lakh bounty arrested in Nalasopara

Mumbai: A dreaded Maoist leader from Jharkhand carrying a cash reward of ₹15 lakh was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the wee hours of Sunday from a chawl in Nalasopara

Mumbai: A dreaded Maoist leader from Jharkhand carrying a cash reward of ₹15 lakh was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the wee hours of Sunday from a chawl in Nalasopara. The accused has been involved in more than 30 serious offences in Jharkhand.

Jharkhand Maoist leader carrying ₹15 lakh bounty arrested in Nalasopara

Identified as Deepak Hulas Yadav alias Karan alias Karu, 45, who hails from Dodga village in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand and was active in banned CPI (Maoist) in Jharkhand since 2004. He was working as a regional committee member.

Yadav came to Nalasopara from Jharkhand two months ago for medical reasons. Yadav revealed in his statement that he got a fracture in his leg while crossing two hills in Jharkhand a few months ago.

His daughter lives in the Nalasopara area too. His treatment was going on in the local hospital at Nalasopara, said a police officer.

Recently, the Jharkhand police shared Yadav’s information with ATS that they were suspecting he was staying in Mumbai or nearby districts. Based on the information, the ATS team conducted an inquiry and once they got a specific lead about him, a team from Thane ATS conducted raids in the wee hours in his house in a Chawl in Dhaniv, Ramnagar area, Nalasopara, added the official.

The accused was brought to the Thane ATS unit where his interrogation is going on. Jharkhand police have been informed about the operation and they will be coming soon to take Yadav’s custody, added the official.

A few years ago, the Jharkhand government declared a total ₹9.71 crore reward on 146 Naxalites who are attached to several Maoist and Naxal groups in the state. One crore each reward was declared on four dreaded Naxals and ₹25 lakh were on seven Naxals. The government had declared a ₹15 lakh reward on zonal commander Deepak Yadav alias Karu Yadav and 17 others. The rest of the operatives had a reward of ₹5 lakh and ₹2 lakh and ₹1 lakh each, said ATS officials.

As per the information, the first reward was issued to Yadav in 2012, and later as his activities increased in the group and cases started rising against him. He also continued to elude the police and thus, the reward on him was increased, added ATS official.