Koraput: The Crime Branch sleuths Wednesday arrested a wanted Maoist, who was allegedly involved in the Sunki Ghat landmine blast in which eight police personnel were killed in February this year.
Sources said the ultra identified as Madabi Bandi, a hardcore Maoist and a native of Kantar Palingpali village in Chhattisgarh, was arrested from Pottangi region in this district for his alleged involvement in the landmine blast of February 1.
Crime Branch director general BK Sharma also confirmed the development in a tweet.
The Maoist was operating in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada region and carried a reward of Rs 4 lakh on his head, Sharma said.
The ultra was produced in the court of the sub- divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) in Koraput and sent to jail after he did not apply for bail, public prosecutor Pramod Kumar Padhy said.
The Maoist has 12 cases registered in his name in various police stations, it was learnt.
The explosion had taken place near Mungarbhumi on Sunki Ghat in the Maoist-affected Koraput district. Altogether 13 personnel, mostly police drivers, were on their way to Cuttack in a truck for training when the landmine went off.
The blast claimed the lives of police personnel Harekrushna Prusty of Raghunathpur in Jagatsinghpur district, Pradipta Kumar Rout of Niali in Cuttack district, Subarna Kumar Raj of Raisuan, Sanjay Kumar Das of Chutiapusi and Ganesh Prasad Sa of Gobindpur in Keonjhar district, Somanath Sisha of Kakua and Tulsidhar Majhi of Pachhia in Koraput district and Arun Kumar Nayak of Godisahi in Dhenkanal district. PNN
