Arrested CPI(Maoist) leader Rameshwar Manjhi in Bokaro on Monday. Picture by Pankaj Singh

Bokaro, April 25: Maoists have learnt a lesson in punctuality, albeit the hard way.

A sub-zonal commander of the banned outfit landed in police net last evening while waiting for another leader who failed to turn up on time.

Bokaro police apprehended 39-year-old Rameshwar Manjhi alias Mangra, a dreaded levy man of the CPI(Maoist), from Bhavani forests in Nawadih block, 70km from the city.

According to highly placed sources, police had been trailing Mangra for several days but managed to zero in on him two days ago after a villager spilled the beans.

A Maoist veteran, Mangra hails from Chandankurwa village of Nimiaghat in Girdih district and had joined the organisation when he was only 18 years old. He has served in various posts since then and was currently a sub-zonal commander, who had specialised in levy collection in Parasnath, Nimiaghat, Nawadih and their adjoining areas.

More than half a dozen cases, including murder of policemen, abduction, arms loot and planting explosives to blow up community halls and schools, are lodged against Mangra who joined the red brigade in 1990. He was also jailed in 1994 for kidnapping a junior engineer in 1991.

Bokaro superintendent of police Saket Singh said the Maoist commander was indeed a prized catch for the police and more arrests would follow after his interrogation.

He said Mangra was named accused in a Naxalite attack on a police team at Kharki jungle near Nimiaghat in 2004. Three policemen were shot dead and six rifles were looted in that incident. In May 2003, he had also snatched away rifles from personnel of the Chandrapura RPF. Six years later, Mangra hit headlines again when he blew up a community hall in Nawadih.