Naxal commander,aide arrested from Sonbhadra

Kol,who carried Rs 50,000 on his head from the UP Police,is a native of Naugarh area of Chandauli district.

Vishwakarma was Naxal commander of the Vindhya-Songanga area,which runs along UP’s borders with Bihar and Jharkhand. He had been active in this area since 2004.

Varanasi zone Inspector General of Police Braj Bhushan said the police recovered a self-loaded rifle,a carbine,a semi-automatic pistol,one rifle each of .303 and .315 bore,and a wireless set. The SLR and .303 rifles had been looted from the police in separate attacks in Chandauli in 2004.

Munna was wanted in over 32 cases in UP and 30 cases in Rohtas district of Bihar,while Kol had over 20 cases pending in UP and 18 in Rohtas.

Anil Kumar Yadav,Circle Officer of Obra who led the operation,said they laid a trap in Kanach Kanuara forest last night following a tip-off about the movement of Munna and his group. At 4 am,they spotted a group moving towards Chopan. The police asked them to surrender,but they started firing at the police,CRPF and PAC team,who,too,retaliated.

The exchange of fire continued till 7.30 am when the Naxals stopped firing and tried to escape. The police started combing the area and caught two men who were later identified as Munna Vishwakarma and Ajit Kol. Munna told the police that they ran out of ammunition in the encounter.

Sources,however,said Munna and Kol had actually surrendered. He had sent feelers to a sub-inspector,who had earlier been posted as station officer in an area bordering Bihar and Jharkhand. The SI played an important role in getting the Naxal zonal commander arrested,the official said.

Munna,a native of Samabaandh village in Robertsganj,was a labourer before he joined the Naxal movement in 1995 after an influential person of his own community had got his family evicted from their house,leaving them homeless.

A Class VIII passout,Munna joined the CPI-ML and fought to get the house back. Later,he left Robertsganj area and the joined People’s War Group in 1999.

Munna’s major crimes included two explosions,triggered by him on consecutive days in Chandauli in 2004 — On November 20,an explosion had taken place at a forest range outpost in Majgain area in which three policemen were killed and their rifles were looted; the very next day,a PAC truck was blown off with landmines,killing 14 PAC men and two policemen in Naugarh area.

Of the 32 cases pending against him in UP,three are registered in Chandauli district and rest are related to Sonbhadra. The cases included killings of over 26 people.

Munna became sub-zonal commander of the Naxal group after his successful operations in Chandauli in 2004. His area of movement included Sonbhadra,Chandauli and Mirzapur in UP,Bhabhua and Rohtas in Bihar and Garhwa in Jharkhand.

After Kamlesh Chaudhary,the zonal commander was killed in an encounter with Sonbhadra police on November 9,2009,Munna took over as the zonal commander.