A close aide of Maoist Polit Bureau member Kishanji and the main accused in the murder of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Sunil Kumar Mahato was arrested by the police at Salboni in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district late on Thursday. Three Maoist squad members were also arrested.
According to District Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Verma, Special Action Force personnel raided a hideout of the rebels at Ranja forest in the Salboni area following a tip-off and arrested Rajesh Munda, Rajesh Hansda, Gopinath Mandi and Mangal Soren.
Munda, who hails from Ranchi, is a member of the Gurpana squad in Jharkhand. He is accused of carrying out the attack on Mahato on March 4, 2007. Mahato was shot dead along with two bodyguards and a party colleague while watching a football match near Jamshedpur.
Munda is also suspected to have played an integral role in the Maoist attacks on Sankrail police station in October last in which two police officials were killed, and the massacre of 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans at Silda in February, Mr. Verma said on Friday.
Police sources said Munda functioned as a courier of Kishanji and used to deliver letters and documents from him to the central committee members in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
