West Bengal: Top Maoist leader Arnab Dam arrested near Purulia

Purulia: Security forces on Monday achieved a major success in the anti-Maoist operations when they captured a Maoist leader accused of killinga CID inspector and two political leaders. The top Maoist leader of West Bengal identified as CPI (Maoist) state committee member Arnab Dam alias Bikram alias Surya was arrested from Biramdih Railway Station, 15 km from Purulia town, on the West Bengal-Jharkhand border.

He was arrested by a joint force comprising of CRPF, CISF and CoBRA personnel, besides policemen from the Baghmundi and Balarampur police stations led by the SP C Sudhakar, who surrounded the railway station and arrested Bikram at 11:00 PM on Monday.

An AK-47 assault rifle, 30 rounds of ammunition and two spent cartridges were seized from the Maoist leader of the Ayodhya Squad. Bikram led the Ayodhya Hills squad of Purulia and was active along the West Bengal-Jharkhand border in Purulia.

CPI (Maoist) state committee member Arnab Dam was arrested from the West Bengal-Jharkhand border area.

Bikram was wanted in several cases of murder, abduction and loot including the murder of an intelligence officer Partha Biswas and an NGO worker Soumyajit Basu who went missing from the Ayodhya Hills area.

He was also wanted for the killing of CPI(M) leader Ajit Singh and his son Bapi in October 2011 at Balarampur and Trinamool Congress leader Jitu Singh Sardar last November in the same area.

Bikram, a science graduate, who left home in in 2006, was a member of the PDSF, a student union of a Naxalite faction of the Second Central Committee formed by senior leader Mahadeb Mukherjee. He later joined the left wing ultras when the PDSF merged with CPI (Maoist).

(With additional information from PTI)

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