Five Maoists arrested from Bihar’s Jamui, Gaya districts; one from Kolkata

Two of the arrested Maoists carried rewards of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively

Bihar police, with the help of security forces, arrested five hardcore Maoists late on Monday from Gaya and Jamui districts of the state while another wanted Maoist was caught in Kolkata. Two of the arrested men carried rewards of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively.

One of the arrested men had been on the run for 30 years, said the police. (Representational Image)

CPI’s regional committee member of Magadh zone, Rahul Yadav (50) alias Bada Vikas alias Sirji, was arrested from Bhraunda village under Gurua police station area when he was on way to Palamu.

Acting on a tip-off, a CRPF team of 159 battalion nabbed him in a joint operation with district police. Rahul, said to be on the run for the past 30 years, was the most active member in the regional committee of the Maoist group and had been involved in a number of violent incidents.

CRPF DIG Om Prakash Yadav said the Jharkhand government had, on July 31, 2020, announced a reward of Rs 15 lakh for his capture.

Mishra said one of Rahul’s aides, Jitendra Yadav, had also been caught. Yadav is said to have been working as a courier in the Maoist organisation.

Police said that Rahul is a close associate of Maoist commander Sandeep Yadav.

Police said another wanted Maoist carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 was nabbed from Kolkata. Jamui SP Pramod Kumar Mandal said following Ramesh Hembram’s arrest in Kolkata , a joint police team of SSB’s 16th battalion and Jamui police nabbed Arvind Sao alias Tenua, Rajesh Soren and Raju Soren.

All the three were allegedly involved in collecting levy for zonal commander Arvind Yadav and area commander Prakash Rana. Three cell phones were recovered from their possession.