CHAIBASA: Nine Maoists, who were allegedly involved in the attack on former BJP MLA Gurucharan Nayak last month, have been arrested with arms and ammunition from West Singhbhum district, a senior police officer said on Saturday.
Some of their sympathisers, too, have been taken into custody, he said.
Nayak had narrowly escaped a Maoist attack on January 4 but the naxals slit the throats of two policemen guarding him in Jheelruwa village here, and escaped with their AK-47 rifles.
The arrested Maoists are also known to have taken part in other extremist activities, district Superintendent of Police Ajay Linda said.
All the arrests were made on Friday and Saturday from villages adjoining Jheelruwa in Goilkera police station, the SP stated.
According to Linda, Kujri Kerai, a former mukhiya (village headman), was among the symphatisers.
He was given the responsibility of inviting Nayak to a football match in Jheelruwa on January 4, while two other locals, Pradhan Koda and Pusa Lugun, were told to keep a tab on police movement.
Linda said some of the arrested naxals were also responsible for killing a 'munshi' (clerk) of the forest department and a villager, besides setting a JCB machine on fire.
Three carbines, 42 rounds of live ammunition, naxal literature, one motorcycle and mobile phones, among other items, have been seized from the possession of the arrested Maoists.