Maoist leader arrested in Jharkhand

Dhanbad, May 3 (ANI): Jharkhand Police arrested a zonal commander of Maoists on Sunday.

Govind Marandi, alias Govind Manjhi was arrested near Shakti Chowk of Tetulmari police station area. The arrest came during a raid conducted by the police.

Marandi, who claims to be the commander of central zone comprising Dhanbad, Giridih and Jamtara districts, is involved in many rebellious activities.

Dhanbad's Superintendent of Police, Suman Gupta, confirmed that the Maoist leader is involved in nearly 14 cases.

"Police have received success on the Maoist front. He is the zonal commander of ...sub zone. Girdi, Dhanbad and Jamtara come under his zonal area. He is accused of minimum 14 cases as per police records," said Gupta.

"I was involved in blowing up the school picket in Maniadih and Jamidar incident. I was also involved in setting Vanasthali School on fire and also set a truck on fire at G T road during a shutdown. On 26 and 27 April, I was also involved in pasting posters against Operation Green Hunt," confessed Marandi.

The Maoists say that they are crusading against the establishment for the poor and marginal farmers, and landless labourers.

They have spread into rural pockets in 20 of India's 28 states and the movement has upset business prospects worth billions of dollars in mining industries in central and eastern India. (ANI)