Muzaffarpur, Jan. 20: Six Maoists were arrested today from two villages in the district after a group of 15 rebels tried to kill a police informant in Belahi-Lachchi village.

Three of the rebels, identified as Vijay Paswan, Mahesh Patel and Roshan Kumar, were caught by villagers and handed over to police in the early hours today at Belahi-Lachchi village under Minapur police station. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajesh Kumar said police have recovered a pistol, a crude bomb, seven cartridges and four cellphones from the rebels.

The other rebels managed to flee and police teams have been constituted to trace them. Around 6pm, three more rebels from the group — Mohammed Ishraful, Prabhu Sahni, Munna Rai — were arrested during a raid at Feni Chhapra village (also under Minapur police station) about 7km from Belahi-Lachchi. Eight pistols, a gun, an AK-47 rifle and 300 rounds of cartrid-ge were recovered from them.

SSP Kumar said the 15-member Maoist group had raided the Belahi-Lachchi village last night to kill Manish Kumar, a police spy, who escaped unhurt. The villagers, meanwhile, raised an alarm and caught Vijay, Mahesh and Roshan. The police were soon informed and the rebels were handed over to them.

SSP Kumar said the three rebels disclosed the names of other Maoists who attacked the Belahi-Lachchi village. Two police teams were constituted to flush out the rebels hiding in the countryside around Minapur-Sheohar road. A team of state auxiliary police was also sent to bordering villages of Sheohar and Sitamarhi districts to trace the rebels.

Deputy superintendent of police (east) Shibli Nomani quizzed the first group of rebels who confessed to the torching of big vehicles, including JCB machines.

The rebels had circulated pamphlets, threatening the construction agency to cough up money.

They had also assaulted the supervisors and labourers involved in the construction work of the Muzaffarpur-Sheohar road near Taryani village in adjoining Sheohar district.