Ranchi: Police in Jharkhand on Sunday claimed to have arrested four Maoists, including commander Ravindra Ganjhu alias Aakraman, in Chatra district and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including a US-made rifle.
Official sources said that among those arrested are Ganjhu’s wife Neelam Devi, former Lawalong block head Sachin Kumar Ganjhu, and Amrit Ganjhu.
Chatra Superintendent of Police Vikas Pandey shared details of the operation at a press conference on Sunday.
Ravindra Ganjhu, known by multiple aliases — Brahmadev, Awadh and Ram Vinayak — was the second-in-command of the banned Maoist outfit, the Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee (TSPC). He was a key figure behind several violent incidents across the Chatra, Palamu, and Latehar districts of the state.
The Jharkhand Police had announced a Rs 15 lakh reward on his head, while the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had declared a Rs 3 lakh bounty on him.
The police have recovered an M-16 A1 rifle (US-made), an SLR rifle, three 9 mm pistols, two country-made .315 bore rifles, three country-made 7.62 mm pistols, a country-made pistol of 1000 mm, more than 5,000 bullets, several magazines, seven mobile phones, a vehicle and other items from the Maoists.
According to SP Vikas Pandey, the police received intelligence inputs on March 1 which revealed that Ravindra Ganjhu alias Aakraman alias Awadh and his associates were travelling towards Palamu via Hunterganj in Chatra.
Acting swiftly, a police team intercepted their white vehicle near Patsugia bridge on the Sherghati-Hunterganj road, leading to their arrest.