Eight Maoists with rewards on their heads arrested in Bastar

Eight Maoists, five of them carrying reward on their heads, were arrested from separate places in the insurgency-hit Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, the police said in Raipur on Tuesday.

Six Maoist cadres, including a woman, were held from the Bangapal police station limits of Bijapur district during a search operation, Bijapur Superintendent of Police KL Dhruv said. They were wanted in several incidents of crimes, including murder, loot, arson, kidnapping and attacks on police patrols since 2003, the police officer said.

Last evening, a local police team was sent into the interiors of the Bangapal region, located around 450 km away from the state capital, for a combing operation.

After they reached the forests of Bangoli village, they rounded up six people on suspicion, who later admitted their involvement in activities of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) since several years, the official said.

Those arrested were identified as Shankar Warsa (50), Somaru Warsa (35), Gopi (32), Budhram Tamo (36), Kadiyam Nehru (38) and a woman called Sundari Warsa, he said, adding that they were active in the South Bastar region.

Shankar, Somaru, Gopi and Sundari carried a reward of Rs 5,000 each on their heads, he said. In a separate incident, Lalu Korram (25) who carried a reward of Rs 10,000 on his head, was apprehended from Jhara police station limits of Narayanpur district on Tuesday, a senior police official said.

Acting on a specific input, a joint contingent of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force and the district police nabbed the rebel from the Badenghol forests.

In another search operation, a Maoist cadre identified as Daya Ram Dhruve (21) was nabbed from Bilaikachhar village under Siksod police station limits last evening, Kanker Superintendent of Police RN Dash said.

A joint party of the Border Security Force and the district police were on a combing exercise in Siksod region when they received a tip-off about the movement of a suspicious man near Bilaikachhar.

Subsequently, the cadre was rounded up by the security forces, he said.

During interrogation, he admitted of being involved in several offences, including attacks on police party, loot, arson and other criminal activities the area, he said.