By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Over a dozen police officers of Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal are interrogating two Maoist rebel leaders who were nabbed in Orissa’s Rourkela district, police said Wednesday.
Atul Yadav alias Rajiv and Ashutosh Tudu alias Motilal Soren, leaders of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), were arrested Monday near steel city Rourkela, about 470 km from here.
They were apprehended on their way to Ranchi from Rourkela railway station after a meeting with their cadres in a nearby forest, Rourkela Superintendent of Police Santosh Bala told IANS.
“A local court sent the accused to seven days police custody. They are being interrogated by police officers of the four states where they have committed several crimes,” she said.
Yadav was allegedly involved in the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his associates on Aug 23 last year in Kandhamal district.
The murders triggered widespread communal violence in the state and left at least 38 people, mostly Christians, dead.
Yadav was also allegedly involved in several other crimes in about six states, including a murder in Tundi village in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district.
Tudu, who had joined the Maoist Communist Centre in 1999, used to be a member of the central military commission of the rebel group, said Bala.
Tudu was wanted in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar.
“Police officers from other states affected by Maoist insurgency as well as central intelligence officials are also likely to come here for further interrogation of the two rebels,” she said.
Tudu was alleged to have masterminded the attack in Orissa’s Nayagarh town in February last year in which at least 14 people, including 13 policemen, were killed.
During interrogation, he confessed that he had planned the attack a year ago and trained about 180 women cadres for over a month in a nearby forest.
“He belongs to Kolharia village in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district. He was also chief of the rebel group’s eastern bureau,” Bala said.
“Investigations have revealed the involvement of both the Maoists in the land mine explosion that took place in July 2008 in Bundu village in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district. A deputy superintendent of police was killed in the blast,” she said.
“They also looted cash worth Rs.50 million and one kilogram of gold from an ICICI Bank branch in May last year near Tamar in Ranchi district.
“The rebels were also involved in the killing of 16 Muslims in Dewari village in Jharkhand in September 2005,” Bala alleged.