Three Naxalites carrying reward of Rs 6 lakh arrested in Gadchiroli

Kumoti worked with the Bhamragad LOS for two years since 2015 and was involved in murder and attacks on policemen.

Gadchiroli: Three Naxalites involved in murders, landmine blasts and arson and collectively carrying a reward of Rs 6 lakh have been arrested in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, the police said on Sunday.

The arrests were made in two operations in the past three days. According to a release by the Gadchiroli police, 70 Naxalites have been arrested in the district since January 2022.

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In the first operation, the district police’s elite C-60 squad on September 7 took into custody Sarju, alias Chotu Bandu Mahaka (28) and Madhu, alias Anu Maharu Kumoti (23), both natives of Halwer under Bhamragad tehsil.

Mahaka was a member of the banned outfit’s Gatta local organising squad (LOS) between 2010 and 2018. He was involved in many encounters and the murder of “two innocent persons”, the release said.

Kumoti worked with the Bhamragad LOS for two years since 2015 and was involved in murder and attacks on policemen.

Both Mahaka and Kumoti were part of the Naxal group that burnt construction vehicles of a contractor building a bridge near Visamundi in February this year. Each carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh their head, said the release.

In the second operation on September 9, a joint team of C-60 and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) worked on inputs to arrest Ashok Lala Talandi (30), who originally belongs to Chhattisgarh, from a forest in the district.

Talandi was involved in a landmine blast and murder of innocent people and carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh, said the police, adding that the operations were guided by by Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police Nilotpal.