Ranchi: In a major breakthrough in anti-Naxal operations, banned CPI (Maoist) politburo member Misir Besra, who carried a bounty of over ₹2.2 crore and was wanted in 175 criminal cases, was arrested in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district, Director General of Police Tadasha Mishra said on Wednesday.
The DGP claimed that the Maoist menace has been “almost wiped out” from the state with the arrest of one of the country’s most wanted Naxal leaders.
Besra, 65, was apprehended from the Maniadih area under the Barwadda Police Station limits on Tuesday evening during Operation Daura Pahad, she said.
A resident of Madnadih village in Giridih district, Besra was the “only active top-ranking CPI (Maoist) politburo member”, the DGP said.
“The top Maoist carried a combined bounty of ₹2.20 crore, announced by the Jharkhand and Odisha governments. He was wanted in 175 cases across Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal,” she said.
Two other Maoists—Mehnat alias Mochu, who carried a reward of ₹15 lakh, and Gaurav—were also arrested during the operation. According to the DGP, the three were wanted in a total of 320 criminal cases.
Police said Besra, also known as Sagar Da and Bhaskar Da, joined the banned outfit in 1980 and rose through its ranks to become a member of its Central Committee in 2003. He played a key role in expanding the Maoist network across Jharkhand and neighbouring states and was instrumental in forming armed squads in the state, another senior police officer said.
Jharkhand Police Inspector General (Operations) Narendra Singh said the three arrested Maoists were involved in several major attacks over the years, including the 2005 Jehanabad jailbreak in Bihar, multiple bank robberies, large-scale looting of arms and ammunition, and several IED blasts.
“They were responsible for the deaths of more than 100 security personnel,” he said.
According to police, the trio had been attempting to revive Maoist activities in the Parasnath region.
“Security forces will sanitise the entire area and launch intensive operations to trace the remaining 15–20 Maoists believed to be active in Jharkhand, including three carrying cash rewards,” Singh said.
Reacting to Misir Besra’s arrest, his brother Devlal Besra said the family came to know that he had been apprehended between 10 pm and 11 pm on Tuesday in the border area between Dhanbad and Giridih.
“He has not come home since 1986-87. We have a nephew. We also had a niece, but she passed away. We had repeatedly appealed to him to return to the mainstream,” Devlal Besra said.
The arrests came hours after 16 Maoists, including six carrying a combined bounty of ₹39 lakh, surrendered before the Jharkhand Police. Among those who surrendered was Santosh Mahto alias Basudev Da alias Dilip, who was wanted in 128 cases and carried a reward of ₹15 lakh.
