Wanted Naxalite held in UP

Varanasi, Mar 14 (UNI) A day after the arrest of a Naxalite and recovery of explosives, police in neighbouring Chandauli district early today arrested a wanted CPI (Maoist) area commander to foil plans of reviving the extremist movement in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

CPI (Maoist) area commander of Bihar Chote Lal Harijan was arrested following specific tip-off from Chakia crossing, Chandauli Police Superintendent Pravin Kumar told UNI.

The arrested Naxal carried a reward of Rs 20,000 on his head by the Bihar government and was wanted in connection with at least 20 criminal cases, including the murder of a Deputy Superintendent of Bihar Police Akhileshwar Prasad in Kaimur district on April 3, 2006.

A nine mm pistol, motorcycle and Naxalite literature have been seized from his possession. Two of his aides managed to escape.

Initial interrogation revealed the Maoist was planning to revive the movement in the Naxal-infested Chandauli, Mirzapur and Sonebhadra districts.

The Naxal, hailing from Rohtas (Bihar), was earlier part of the Peoples War Group (PWG), but following the MCC-PWG merger in 2004, Chote Lal became the area commander of the new outfit CPI (Maoist) and was now active in Bhabhua and Rohtas districts of Bihar.

He was second to the sub-zonal commander of CPI (Maoist) in the twin Bihar districts and was planning to extend operations to UP.

Meanwhile, DIG (Varanasi Range) R P Singh has announced a cash reward of Rs 5,000 to the police team.

Chandauli police yesterday claimed to have busted a major Naxal plot to disrupt UP elections with the arrest of a technical Naxal hand Ghanshyam from Chakia police station area of the same district.

A large cache of explosives meant for triggering IED blasts were also seized from him.

UNI