Maoist carrying Rs 5 lakh reward among 6 arrested

A Maoist with a Rs five lakh reward on his head for killing a mining company executive and a police officer was among six ultras arrested from Dumka and Jamtara districts today, police said.

Self-styled Maoist zonal commander of the Santhal Parganas, 21-year-old Ram Lal Rai, his 22-year-old Maoist wife Panmuni Murmu, and Panchanan Mandal, were nabbed from a car intercepted by the police at Kathijoria village under Muffasil police station, Superintendent of Police Hemant Toppo told reporters.

After his arrest, Rai guided the police to neighbouring Jamtara district where three other Maoists, Rekha, Tara Pujhar and Gopal Pujhar, were arrested, he said.

"Rai and his wife were accused of perpetrating the murders of B Sharan, an executive with the Panem Coal Mines Limited in 2010 in Pakur district, and the officer-in-charge of Jama police station in Dumka," he said.

A pistol and three rounds of ammunition were seized from them, he added.

A ten-member police team from West Bengal's Birbhum also arrived to interrogate them in connection with some other cases, the police official said.