Home Ministry officials said on Thursday that the death of top Maoist commander Arvindji would impact the activities of left wing extremists in Jharkhand, his core area of operation.
Arvindji is reported to have died of a heart attack on Wednesday, Jharkhand police said. “The news of Arvindji’s death has been confirmed by the State agencies. He was a senior functionary of the Maoists and we are waiting for a direct confirmation,” said R.R Bhatnagar, DG, CRPF.
The CRPF is one of the main central forces deployed in Jharkhand to aid the State government in anti-Maoist operations.
Travelled on horse
An official said Arvindji, alias Dev Kumar Singh alias Nishant, was in his 50s and died in the jungles of the Budha Pahad in Jharkhand, bordering Chhattisgarh. He walked with a limp and used a horse to move in the jungles.
Arvindji was engaged in a turf war with another Maoist leader Sudhakar Reddy, who moved to Jharkhand two years ago and was learnt to have been siphoning off money from the party fund, the official said.
The ‘A category’ most wanted Maoist leader was a member of the central committee of the banned CPI(Maoist) and carried a reward of ₹1.5 crore on his head, declared by the police forces of Jharkhand and Bihar. An official said that the Maoist leader, despite suffering from several diseases, including diabetes, had led a series of attacks on security forces in the State.
Arvindji hailed from Bihar’s Jehanabad and was active in the Palamu, Garhwa and Chatra districts of Jharkhand. The forces had reported seeing Arvindji moving in the Budha Pahar area and other jungle patches in the State for years. He had escaped from security forces several times by a whisker.
