Bhagalpur, July 1: Special Task Force (STF) has arrested Avinash, the spokesperson of east Bihar and north Jharkhand zonal committee of CPI(Maoist). But police are silent over it fearing rebel backlash.

Avinash was arrested last evening near Belhar-Jamui border in Banka district on the basis of surveillance of his cellphone, confirmed senior Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers. The police in Banka, Jamui and Munger are tight-lipped, though.

Avinash had informed the reporters about the Kodashi valley ambush in Lakhisarai in August 2010 in which seven Bihar police personnel were killed. Later, he took the reporters to Kashi baba diara at Munger-Khagaria border, the spot where 13 Maoists were killed by Bind criminals.

“We had prior information about his presence in the bordering areas of Banka and Jamui. Yesterday, we nabbed him from a hamlet near the Jamui border where he had gone to meet someone,” a police source told The Telegraph.

After the arrest, Avinash was taken to Chandramandi police station under Chakai block in Jamui, confirmed a senior CRPF officer.

A cop of Chandramandi said the STF brought a person to the police station for an hour’s interrogation after which he was taken to an unknown destination.

“Senior cops from other places also rushed to our police station and we came to know that the person was Avinash, the spokesperson of the rebels,” the cop said.

Monoranjan Bharati, the officer-in-charge of Belhar police station in Banka, who is said to have played an important role in the arrest of the rebel spokesperson, could not be contacted for comment.

When The Telegraph called him up on his cellphone, a constable picked up the phone and said he was on leave.

Anil Kishore Yadav, the Munger range deputy inspector-general, said: “You should confirm such news from the director-general of police and not me.”

The Banka and Jamui superintendents of police, Shyam Kumar and R.N. Singh, were not ready to share any information.

East Bihar and north Jharkhand zonal committees of CPI (Maoists) gave a bandh call today in eastern Bihar and north Jharkhand districts to protest against the death sentence awarded to four rebels by a court at Giridih in Jharkhand in the Chilkhari massacre case.

Observers said Bihar police preferred to be tightlipped to avoid the retaliation of the rebels.

“The news of Avinash’s arrest may add fuel to the fire and to prevent that, the police are tight-lipped,” a source said.

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