Giridih: In a significant breakthrough in Jharkhand’s ongoing anti-Maoist operations, security forces have arrested senior CPI (Maoist) leader Ajay Mahto, alias Tiger and Basudev, who was carrying a bounty of ₹25 lakh, officials said on Friday.
A member of the banned outfit’s Special Area Committee (SAC), Mahto had been on the radar of security agencies for years and was wanted in more than 100 criminal cases, including murder, attacks on security personnel, extortion and improvised explosive device (IED) blasts.
Police said they received intelligence that Mahto had moved out of the forests in Giridih and entered the plains. Acting on the tip-off, a joint team of the Giridih Police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the CoBRA battalion launched a search operation in the Harladih area and arrested him.
Security personnel also recovered weapons and ammunition from his possession during the operation.
Mahto, a native of Nawadih village under Pirtaand police station in Giridih district, is believed to have been a close aide of senior Maoist commander Misir Besra, who carries a reward of ₹1 crore. Investigators say he played a key role in coordinating Maoist activities in the Parasnath region and expanding the outfit’s extortion network.
According to police records, Mahto is facing more than 100 cases registered in Giridih, Bokaro, Dhanbad and Hazaribagh districts. The charges include murder, attacks on police and security forces, destruction of public property, IED explosions, extortion and recruiting members for the banned organisation.
The Jharkhand government had already approved his prosecution under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other serious criminal provisions.
His name had also figured in the 2012 murder of P.C. Sharma, then General Manager of the Bharatvarshiya Digambar Jain Tirth Kshetra Committee at Madhuban. He had remained absconding in that case for several years.
Investigators further allege that Mahto ran an extensive extortion racket targeting road construction companies, stone crusher operators and businesses in the coal belt regions of Giridih and Bokaro.
Security officials believe his arrest will significantly weaken Maoist operations in the Parasnath area. Police are now questioning him in the hope of gathering intelligence about the organisation’s network, active cadres and suspected arms hideouts in the region.
With inputs from IANS