In a major operation carried out by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), 10 naxalites, who are wanted in several cases in West Bengal, were nabbed in Pune.
The Pune unit of the ATS had received information that two to three naxalites were hiding in rural areas outside Pune city; officials had been working to track down the suspects since a month. The accused, on Thursday, were trying to flee when they were apprehended and caught at the Pune station complex late at night.
All 10 — Nirippin Mahato, 23, Rudra Mahato, 19, Anando Mahato, 37, and his brother Sushanto Mahato, 36, Robi Hansda, 19, Robi Mahato, 19, Satyajit Rana, 18, Ajit Mahato, 36, Pinto Mahato, 19 and Kadu Hembram, 21 — belong to the West Midnapore district of West Bengal. ATS officials recovered naxal literature and four 7.65mm pistols from them.
ATS chief Rakesh Maria said, “Nirippin, Anando and Robi Mahato are wanted for the murder of a police informer who was killed on November 30 last year. The case is registered at the Kotwali police station in West Midnapore. Rudra, Robi Hansda and Sushanto are wanted in a Arms and Explosives Act case registered at the same police station. Hansda is also a member of the banned Peoples Guerilla Liberation Army; records of the accused are awaited.”
He added, “They were all staying in the Shirur area of rural Pune since three months. Sushanto, a commerce graduate, has been working in this area for a few years and had arranged for the others’ shelter and job in small industrial units at this place.”
Interrogations revealed that because the WB police had intensified action against them in West Midnapore, they had to flee and were hiding in Shirur till things cooled down.
