Bidhan Chandra Patra (left), commandant of 131 battalion of CRPF, after the joint combing operation. Picture by Amit Kumar

Bhagalpur, March 11: A joint combing operation by CRPF, Jamui and Banka police against Maoists in the border area of the two districts ended late last evening without much success.

The operation, codenamed Sarvanash, had begun on March 7. The police team could not arrest the armed guerrillas. However, Babulal Yadav, a Maoist activist and the prime accused in the murder of a former head of Chilkara panchayat in Banka, was nabbed. The village head, Prayag Yadav, was killed in March 2010.

Bidhan Chandra Patra, the commandant of the 131 battalion of the CRPF, said: “On the basis of suspicion, three persons — Basudev Khaira (35), Raju Rai (26) and Suresh Marandi (30) — were picked up for questioning last evening. All of them are from Pilua village under Chandan police station in Banka.”

He added: “It was unfortunate that the armed Maoists managed to flee because of the inaccessible topography.”

The Banka police, however, termed Yadav’s arrest as a major success. He was wanted for a long time after the murder of the mukhiya and his four associates, Kartik Yadav, Baleshwar Yadav, Manoj Pandey and Jaksu Yadav.