Bapi Mahato, alleged mastermind of the Gyaneswari Express sabotage, was arrested from Jamshedpur by the West Bengal police on Sunday morning with Jharkhand police help.
His cousin Bimal, who had helped provide shelter to him, was also arrested. A CBI team has left to take charge of the duo, who will be produced before a Jhargram court on Monday.
Bapi, 23, activist of the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, absconding since the May 28 carnage, is the prime and fifth accused arrested. The CBI had on June 17 declared him “wanted” in the case, and announced a Rs 1 lakh reward for information on him.
“Arresting Bapi was our job and we have done it. The Jharkhand police assisted us. Bapi is a prize catch,” West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh told this newspaper.
Two other “wanted” PCPA activists — Umakant and Asit Mahato — are still at large. Bapi has reportedly confessed to his role in the attack, in which nearly 150 people were killed.
“He admitted leading a group of PCPA activists in a pickup van and carrying out the sabotage, and also revealed his links with the Maoists,” a senior police officer said. The CBI will book Bapi under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, sources said.
Bapi went under cover soon after the derailment. “Securing a safe hideout at his ancestral village Rasua in Jhargram was tough for him as we had launched a manhunt. Bimal Mahato, a mechanical engineer with a private company in Jamshedpur, managed to provide Bapi shelter at Rai Guest House, in the Adityapur area of Jharkhand’s Saraikela district.