Midnapore, June 8: A member of the militant wing of the People’s Committee Against Police atrocities has been arrested in connection with the sabotage that had derailed the Jnaneswari Express and killed 150 people on May 28.

Samir Mahato, around 30, was picked up by a CID team last evening from Manikpara Bazaar in Jhargram.

Sources said he was traced with the help of information provided by Khagen Mahato, the arrested pick-up van owner who had allegedly ferried some of the Maoists to the railway line at Rajabandh and brought them back after they removed the clips that tied the tracks to the sleepers.

Samir is from Kusumghati, a village about 10km from sabotage site Rajabandh. He was allegedly part of a Maoist meeting on the night of May 26 to work out the operation.

“He had recruited villagers who work for railway contractors to assist in the removal of a portion of the tracks and the clips,” said a police officer connected with the arrest.

On the night of the tragedy, Samir was allegedly the leader of the group that kept vigil at two ends while the clips were being removed.

He was produced in court today and remanded in police custody for 10 days. Samir’s lawyer Kaushik Sinha alleged that he was arrested on June 1 and not yesterday. “He was tortured mentally and physically in the past seven days.”

Top cop plea

State police chief Bhupinder Singh sought the co-operation of villagers to counter the Maoists. “The police alone can’t tackle the problem and be in all places at the same time. The villagers, who have realised the futility of the Maoist movement and senseless killings, must unite to form resistance groups,” he said.