Mumbai/Thane/Medininagar, Nov 7 (PTI) A Maoist, wanted in 63 cases across Bihar and Jharkhand, was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from Thane district, officials said on Saturday.

    Sanjay Sarju Yadav (45), a zonal committee member of the proscribed CPI (Maoist) in Jharkhand, was apprehended from the Khambalpada area of Thakurli in Dombivli, officials said.

    He was carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 13 lakh, with Jharkhand having announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh and Bihar Rs 3 lakh, they added.

    Preliminary interrogation revealed that Yadav had been hiding in Thakurli for the last 10 days and was working as a caretaker for cows at a bungalow in Khambalpada, an official said.

    He was arrested following a tip-off from Jharkhand Police, he said.

    A court in Thane granted four-day transit remand to the Jharkhand Police to take him to the state.

    Yadav was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), defence advocate Manish Ujjainkar said.

    SP of Jharkhand's Palamu district, Kapil Chaudhary, said Yadav was wanted in 33 Maoist-related cases in Jharkhand and 30 in Bihar.

    The Jharkhand and Bihar governments had been searching for Yadav, a resident of Devgan village in the Chatarpur police station area of Palamu, for the last one and a half years, the SP said.

    He was allegedly involved in several major Maoist attacks, including the killing of two local JMM leaders in Pipra on November 23, 2019, and the bombing of a BJP office in Hariharganj during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    He was also allegedly involved in an IED blast at Kalapahar in Chatarpur that killed several police personnel, Chaudhary said.

    Yadav was part of a Maoist squad accused of killing 15 members of rival Naxalite outfit Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee in Bishrampur police station area in 2013.

    In Bihar, he was wanted in connection with attacks on security forces in Gaya and Aurangabad districts in 2016, in which several personnel were killed, the SP said.

    He was also a close associate of Maoist zonal commander Nitesh Yadav, Chaudhary said, adding that police hoped to gather crucial information during his interrogation.

    Yadav, who was arrested in 2011, is expected to reach Jharkhand from Maharashtra on Sunday, he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
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