A 42-year-old suspected Maoist, who was wanted in the murder of a senior police officer 12 years ago and had participated in an agitation for separate statehood for Jharkhand, was arrested in the capital.
The police today claimed that the Maoist Pradeep Kumar Singh was hiding in a nearby township for the past three months after security forces intensified action in his state.
Pradeep Kumar Singh, an active member of People's War Group (PWG) which merged with Maoist Communist Centre to form CPI (Maoist), was apprehended from Sector-24 Rohini yesterday on a tip off, Sanjay Jain, deputy commissioner of police (Crime), told reporters here.
Singh, who hails from Latehar in Jharkhand, is wanted in the murder of Dr Ajay Kumar Singh, superintendent of police of Lohardaga in October 2000. Jain claimed that Singh is now an ideologue and recruiter.
"He is no more into the armed wing. His job is to motivate youngsters. He is a good orator and uses his propaganda to spread PWG influence," Jain said.
Singh's 20-year-old son Rakesh, the local area commander of Maoists in Latehar, has a number of murder and kidnapping cases and is the "most wanted man" in the area.
"Our team found a person coming from the side of Rithala Metro Station. He was signalled to stop but after seeing police party, he tried to flee from the spot. He was overpowered by the police party. A loaded 7.65 mm pistol along with two live cartridges was recovered from his possession," Jain said.