Absconding Maoist commander held in Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi Police have arrested a wanted Maoist who escaped from jail in Chhattisgarh in 2014, officials said on Saturday. According to the police, Anurag Ram, commander of banned People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) from Chhattisgarh who was absconding from the district jail of Jashpur in Chattisgarh was arrested on Friday from Dhaula Kuan bus stand in the national capital. Anurag who was known in different names such as Sadlohar, Dhalbir, Haga, and Kundan is wanted in several cases in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

He was hiding in the border area of Punjab and Haryana for the last seven years to evade arrest, police said in a statement. Earlier in 2014, he was arrested in a complaint of a businessman in connection with an extortion case demanding Rs 2 lakh from him. On May 26, 2014, he was brought to the District Court, Jashpur, Chattisgarh, from district jail for hearing a case related to Arms Act & Damage to Property Act.

After the conclusion of the Court's proceedings, he was kept in the District Lock up in the evening. However, he along with his three associates escaped from the lock-up after breaking the window. Since then he was evading arrest. He also had a case for shooting a man of his village with a firearm.

Special team of the Crime Branch, who was investigating active Maoist modules got a tip-off about the identity of the accused and subsequently, he was nabbed.

During interrogation, accused Anurag disclosed that in 2012, he came in contact with the members of PLFI. He got arms from there and he started extorting money from the people.

Accused Anurag was a labourer and belongs to a poor family. He joined PFLI after he was motivated by a local cadre of the Maoist group in 2012. Thereafter, he got training in weapon handling and started to operate in the urban areas for extortion.

He was given an SLR and several rounds by the Maoists which he used to commit extortion. This weapon had earlier been recovered by Jashpur police. The accused has been arrested under CrPC and concerned Police Stations as well as other agencies, have been informed accordingly.