Patna, April 24: Around six superintendents of police posted in the Naxalite-hit districts of Bihar are on the hitlist of the Maoists. The state intelligence agency has sounded an alert asking the officials to take precautions while venturing out in Maoist hotbeds.

Additional director-general (headquarters) Ravinder Kumar said certain guidelines had been issued to the police officers posted in the Maoist-hit areas and they have been asked to follow them.

“We cannot share all confidential information with the media,” he said. The alert comes after rebels abducted Alex Paul Menon, the district magistrate of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh, on April 21.

Intelligence agencies had earlier cautioned the state government about abduction of senior administrative officers by the Maoists because of concerted police operation in the state, leading to the arrest of a number of senior leaders and killing of a few armed cadres.

Sources in the state police headquarters said the SPs of Gaya, Banka, Jamui, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Arwal, Sheohar and Sitamarhi districts have been put on alert in the wake of the intelligence inputs that armed rebels of the CPI (Maoist) may target them.

Vinay Kumar, the Gaya SP, is apprehending threat from the Maoists for his audacity to arrest several senior leaders, including Jagdish Master alias Masterji from Guraru police station area of the district. The government had announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh on Masterji’s head.

Rohtas SP Manu Maharaj’s name figured in the list of the Maoists’ “most wanted police officers” for killing three armed squad members in an encounter early this year. Total 120 Maoists, including 15 senior leaders, had been arrested from Rohtas in the past year. Maharaj appeared little apprehensive. “We receive intelligence inputs from time to time and act accordingly. We take all precautions,” he said.

The Rohtas police had recently launched “Operation Biswas” to flush out the Naxalites from the Kaimur plateau. “We have arrested 120 hardcore Maoists, including 15 top leaders in the past year,” he added. The Maoists have accused the SPs of Sitamarhi and Sheohar of adopting partisan role in the murder of Gaurishankar Jha, a former self-styled zonal commander of the outfit, in Purnahia police station area of Sheohar in November last year.