Top Maoist guerrilla & wife with Rs 40L bounty nabbed in Gadchiroli forest

Nagpur: The tottering Maoist movement in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra suffered further setback on Saturday after a top guerrilla, Sailu Bhumayah Muddela alias Raghu, 55, and three others were arrested from the forests of Palli in Bhamragarh taluka of south Gadchiroli. The Maharashtra govt had declared a Rs 40lakh bounty on their heads.Raghu and his wife, Jaini Kharatam alias Akila, also arrested, were filling the vacuum in the Maoist leadership in the Gadchiroli flank of the Maoist headquarters of Abujmarh. More than 40 villages had banned their entries by adopting the govt's ‘gaonbandi' scheme and helped police open more than six police stations in the critical conflict zones of Bhamragarh on the Chhattisgarh border, flushing out People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) and regaining regions in the Red Corridor.

The four arrested in a joint operation under Gadchiroli police, had ambushed and killed a C60 commando near Dirangi-Fulnar on the Abujmarh foothills in February. Apart from a strong contingent of C-60 commandos, the mission was also backed by a battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Raghu, secretary of south Gadchiroli division, had 77 offences against him, including 34 encounters and 23 murders. He held sway over the four-and-half-decade-old armed movement in Gadchiroli after top leader Girdhar's surrender last year. Now, his arrest has left the movement rudderless in Gadchiroli district. He joined the movement in 1990 and refused to adopt the govt's surrender policy.

Sources stated Raghu was controlling the key logistics supply channels for the Maoist leadership holed up in Abujmarh. Raghu, who survived several encounters with security forces, was camping in the forest of Palli with his wife Jaini and two others, Jansi Doge Talandi and Manila Pido Gawande, when they were surrounded and arrested.

Jaini, who joined the rebel movement in 2001, was the divisional committee member, heading the Bhamragarh Local Guerilla Squad. As secretary of the Bhamragarh Area Committee, Jaini motivated women and girls to join the rebel movement. She had 29 cases against her, including 18 encounters with C60 commandos and four murders.

SP Gadchiroli Neelotpal said an intelligence input on Maoist movement in Palli forest prompted an area-domination exercise, which led to the arrests. Under the supervision of the State Anti-Naxal Operation Cell, Sandip Patil and DIG, Naxal Range, Ankit Goyal, the four Maoists are now being questioned by a special team. Other agencies are also set to join the interrogation. In the last two-and-a-half years, Gadchiroli police neutralised 32 Maoists, arrested almost 60, and ensured surrender of 42, leaving just 40 cadres in the movement.