The arrested rebels at Muzaffarpur SSP Ranjit Kumar Mishra’s news meet. Picture by Lokesh Bihari

Muzaffarpur, Oct. 30: The station house officers under whose jurisdiction legislators’ homes and bungalows fall have been asked to remain alert.

The police have information that Maoists may attack the public representatives’ abodes. The police got the lead from arrested Maoist operative Ganesh Bharti and his four accomplices. Bharti was the area commander of CPI(Maoist).

Bharti spilled the beans in the presence of additional superintendent of police (operations) Rana Brajesh and confessed to having ransacked the petrol pump owned by Aurai BJP MLA Ram Surat Rai at Sharfuddinpur village last year. The additional SP said five rebels, including Bharti, were arrested with firearms in the small hours of October 29. Fifteen detonators, two pistols, five cartridges, wires used in laying landmines were recovered from a house in Hathori, where they had taken shelter. The police also arrested one Shanti Devi (40), for giving shelter to the alleged rebels.

Senior police officers interrogated Bharti, who shared details of the rebels’ strategy. “Bharti not only admitted to his involvement in torching the gas station of the MLA but also shared the rebels’ plan of targeting MLAs and MLCs who live here,” said an investigating officer.

The district police have alerted the station house officers under whose jurisdiction houses of MLAs and MLCs such as Raju Kumar Singh, Ashok Singh, Ram Surat Rai, Dinesh Prasad Kushwaha and Dinesh Prasad Singh, fall.

The legislators had earlier received threats from the rebels for their efforts to prevent them from spreading their wings in the district.

Ram Surat Rai said: “I had luckily survived twin rebel attacks after they plotted to blow me off. My gas station was badly damaged by the rebels.”