Maoist held in West Bengal

KOLKATA - A Maoist squad member has been arrested from West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, police said Monday.

“Ajoy Das, who was also a member of Nadia-Murshidabad and Burdwan zonal committee, was arrested by the criminal investigation department (CID) from Kancharapara late Sunday night,” said Additional Director General of CID Raj Kanojia.

Das was arrested from Bijpur police station area in connection with killing and looting a businessman Nov 5.

“We have today (Monday) got the remand of Das. It seems that he is an important catch,” said Kanojia.

A senior CID officer investigating the case said: “Das, a resident of Singur, during interrogation has admitted that he had played an important role in the Singur movement.”

The arrest of Das has, in a way, corroborated the claim of the state government that Maoists participated in the Singur movement with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

“Das was caught by the local people and later handed over to police while his associates managed to escape. A carbine and cash worth Rs.1 lakh was recovered from him,” he said.