Patna, May 18: This is a tale of a man who has allegedly had to pay the price for having a namesake.

Uma Paswan, a resident of Gohi village under Darihat police station in Naxalite-affected Rohtas district, is languishing in Sasaram jail for the past two months for alleged involvement in Maoist-related incidents, including an attack at Rajpur police station in which several policemen were killed and firearms looted.

Paswan (36) was picked up by members of the special task force in plainclothes when he was watching a music and dance show organised at the neighbouring Baraokalan village on March 12. The way the gun-toting men “kidnapped” Paswan and bundled him in a Bolero created panic among the local residents, who suspected it to be the handiwork of Maoists.

“Initially we thought he had been abducted by guerrillas. We came to know about his arrest only three-four days later, that too when he was produced in court. Even the local police did not provide any information about the arrest of Paswan,” said Ashok Paswan, a close relative of Uma.

According to the family, Paswan was branded a sub-zonal commander of the banned CPI (Maoist) and made accused in about half-a-dozen cases, including simultaneous attacks on Rajpur and Baghaila police stations on the intervening night of June 30 and July 1, 2007.

“Uma Paswan has neither any criminal antecedent nor has he been involved in any Maoist activity,” claimed Ashok in a petition submitted to the state human rights commission.

The petition says the police arrested Uma Paswan mistaking him to be his namesake, who is a hardcore Naxalite. “That man is a resident of Ganua village, which is hardly one kilometre from Gohi, the native place of the arrested person,” the petition adds.

The police had also detained Paswan’s brother Murli Paswan, a teacher in a government-run school in Rohtas district, but he was later released, sources said.

The incident took a dramatic turn recently when the hardcore Naxalite, wanted in a series of Maoist-related incidents in Rohtas and Kaimur region, surrendered before the Sasaram court. “When the police officials came to know about the surrender of the real Maoist leader, they started the face-saving exercise,” Ashok alleged in the petition.

But the district police have a different tale to tell. Rohtas SP Manu Maharaj said, “Uma Paswan, a resident of Gohi village, is a named accused in a case (No. 74/07) related to the attack on Rajpur police station of the district in 2007. The man by the same name who surrendered in court recently is associated with another incident.”