Man held for supplying ammunition to Maoists

New Delhi: Delhi Police’s Special Cell has arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly supplying ammunition to the CPI (Maoist) in Bihar’s Ara, officials said on Monday.

Raj Bahadur alias Raj Kishore, a resident of Kasap village in Ara town of Bihar’s Bhojpur district, was carrying a reward of Rs 1 Lakh on his head, police said on Monday.

The arrest was made on January 23 after police got a tip-off that Bahadur will visit one of his acquaintance in the Shiv Ganj Colony area of the Ara city, police said.

A trap was laid and Bahadur was apprehended from the spot and 35 cartridges were recovered from his possession, P S Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said.

Bahadur’s associates, who were arrested in 2018 last year in connection with the case, disclosed to police that he was the main source of supplying of illegal cartridges, he said.

Investigations revealed that Bahadur was arrested earlier for supplying illegal cartridges to the Maoists in Odisha, Kushwah said. He has been supplying cartridges illegally since 2008.

He used to procure cartridges from a Patna-based man, named Santosh, the DCP said. The procured cartridges were then supplied to Ajeet Ray through Ram Krishna Singh and Sanjay Singh, he said.

Bahadur came in contact with Ray in Mumbai when he used to supply labour to a construction company. He, along with Ram Krishna Singh, was arrested in Odisha in 2008, while he was carrying cartridges for supplying them to Maoists, Kushwah added.

Bahadur is also involved in various other cases, including robbery and attempt to murder, the DCP said. His associates Ram Krishna Singh, Ray and Sanjay Singh were arrested in 2018 last year in connection with the case, the DCP said.

Ram Krishna Singh used to procure cartridges from Ara, which were supplied to a Garhchiroli-based Maoist cadre. Ray is also involved in several cases of crime in states of Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhatishgarh since 1990, he said.