CHANDIGARH: A joint team of Punjab Police counter-intelligence wing and Jharkhand Police special branch on Sunday arrested wanted Maoist leader Deen Bandhu Pater alias Mao Lava, 28, from Basti Bawa Khel in Jalandhar.
Bandhu has been staying there since December last under the fake ID of Suraj Munda.
Police sources said Pater, a key activist of CPI (Maoist), was wanted in connection with several cases of murder, kidnapping and attacks on police forces in Jharkhand. He joined the Maoist movement in 2010 and murdered four persons in his native Baaruhatu village near Ranchi the same year. Enmity was said to be the reason for the murders, including that of a girl child.
He was also behind the kidnap and murder of two persons from Birbanki. Their bodies were later recovered from Bandgaon in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. He was also involved in several police encounters from 2010 to 2014.
Pater was ranked as a platoon commander under most wanted zonal commander Maoist Kundan Pahan, who trained him in handling .303, SLR and INSAS rifles. Pahan carries a cash reward of `5 lakh on his head.
Jharkhand Police sources said Pater completed his 10+2 examination in 2008. He acquainted with Maoist Ram Mohan Munda during his school days and was asked to give information about police activity in the area. For this, Munda provided him with a mobile phone.
Occasionally, he supplied food at Maoist camps in jungles and helped in purchase of grocery items.
He was arrested by Ranchi Police in January 2009 for suspicious activities and released in November the same year.
After his release, Pater actively joined the Maoist ranks. He also fell in love and got married against the wishes of his girlfriend’s parents.
In October last year, he fled a Maoist camp with an INSAS rifle, ammunition and `2 lakh Maoist fund. Pater, along with his wife, reached Jalandhar in December and started working there as labourer under the fake ID of Suraj Munda.
He was presented before a local court in Jalandhar and remanded in five-day police custody by the Jharkhand Police.