Patna, Sept. 16: An area commander of the CPI(Maoist) allegedly involved in the murder of the wife of a Bihar cadre officer in 2000 was arrested from Barachatti police station area of Naxalite-affected Gaya district today.

The arrested Maoist, Rajendra Yadav, was allegedly involved in the firing incident near Barachatti in which IAS officer Deepak Prasad’s wife Archana Verma died on November 12, 2000.

Prasad was then posted as development commissioner of Hazaribagh (now in Jharkhand).

Gaya senior superintendent of police Amit Lodha said a police team carried out raids at different hideouts of the Maoists at Barachatti market today and arrested Yadav acting on a tip off.

Verma was seriously injured after being shot at while returning to Hazaribagh from Gaya in an SUV.

The Maoists intercepted the vehicle carrying the IAS officer’s wife and a relative after they noticed bacon atop.

An injured Verma was immediately rushed to Magadh Medical College and Hospital at Gaya, where she succumbed to her injuries.

Verma had come to Gaya railway station from Hazaribagh to receive her relative.

“She fell prey to the bullets of the squad members of the Maoist Communist Centre,” said a senior police officer posted at the state police headquarters.

“Though Yadav is a non-FIR accused, his name had figured during interrogation of other Maoists arrested in connection with the incident,” the police officer added.