In a major breakthrough, the police on Friday arrested two top CPI (Maoist) leaders in Guwahati and recovered a large consignment of arms and ammunitions from them.
Senior superintendent of police (city police) A.K. Tiwari told this newspaper that they arrested two top Maoist leaders — Aklant Rabha, alias Saikia, and Siraj, alias Vijay, — from a rented house in Jorabat area of the city.
The arrest of two top Maoist leaders came close on the heels of Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi seeking deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to track movement of insurgents and Maoists, besides the warning of the home ministry that forays of Maoists into the sensitive northeastern states are fraught with serious strategic implications.
Informing that Aklant Rabha is the member of the central committee of the CPI (Maoist), Mr Tiwari said that he was also heading the Maoist operations in Assam. Pointing out that Rabha was caught with one of his associates from Jharkhand, Mr Tiwari said that he has been identified as Siraj, who was the chief trainer of Maoists in Jharkhad.
Meanwhile, security sources keeping surveillance on CPI (Maoist) activities in eastern India, including the Northeast, indicated that Aklant Rabha may turn out to be a big catch for the security forces.