Four Maoists, including Rajesh Munda who masterminded and executed the murder of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and member of Parliament Sunil Mahato in 2007, were arrested from near Ranjha jungle at Salboni in West Midnapore.
Munda who is believed to be very close to CPI(Maoist) politburo member Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji, was also directly involved in two of the deadliest Maoist attacks in West Bengal — the attacks on Sankrail police station and the Easter Frontier Rifles (EFR) camp at Sildah that killed 24 EFR jawans.
“Based on a specific information, the joint security forces raided parts of Ranjha jungle early on Friday morning. They were holding a meeting there. Four were arrested from the spot while the rest managed to escape. Out of the four, Rajesh Munda who was wanted in the murder case of Sunil Mahato, MP from Jharkhand, is a big catch,” said superintendent of police (West Midnapore) Manoj Verma. The other three Maoists have been identified as Rajesh Hansda, Mangal Soren and Gopi Mandi.
It may be recalled that on March 4, 2007, 38-year-old Sunil Mahato, MP from Jamshedpur constituency was gunned down from a very close range at Bakuria in East Singhbhum district where he had gone to attend a programme as the chief guest.
Investigation had revealed that Rajesh Munda was physically present during the assasination. He was also present when Maoists had raided the Sankrail police station in West Midnapore district on October 20, 2009. The Naxalites had killed two on-duty officers of the police station and kidnapped the officer-in-charge of the police station Atindranath Dutta. Later, Mr Dutta he was released by the Maoists only after the state had released 14 tribal women who were in the police custody, as demanded by the Maoists. Munda was also present when the Maoists had attacked the EFR camp at Sildah.