Somen

Calcutta, Feb. 23: Plain-clothes detectives today arrested the top Maoist leader in Bengal, CPI (Maoist) state secretary Somen, from a railway platform after identifying him from his stutter.

Somen, whose real name is Himadri Sen Roy, has been charged with waging war against the state and plotting the killings of several CPM leaders and police officers.

A Maoist since the 1970s, the 52-year-old had been on the run for years but had never been arrested before.

“This is a breakthrough in our war against the Maoists,” said CID special inspector-general Rajeev Kumar, who oversaw the bid to catch Somen, launched after a tip-off. “He is a prize catch and every law-enforcing agency in the state was looking for him.”

CID officers said Somen had plotted the killings of CPM leaders Rabi Kar and Mahendra Mahato in Purulia, Barikul officer-in-charge Prabal Sengupta in Bankura and Bandwan OC Nilmadhab Das in Purulia. They also believe he ordered yesterday’s murder of CPM leader and school headmaster Karamchand Singh in West Midnapore’s Belpahari.

Officers said they had received a tip-off that Somen would meet an associate this evening on platform No. 2 of Hridaypur railway station in North 24-Parganas, 25km from Calcutta.

The Maoist leader arrived around 5pm and began talking to the associate. Immediately, two CID officers in plain clothes approached him and struck up a conversation.

“We wanted to verify his identity. We knew Somen stammered,” an officer said. “As soon as he began speaking, we knew we had our man.”

The two officers grabbed Somen. His associate Dilip Mandi alias Deba was chased and caught.

Somen struggled to break free and screamed for help to bystanders, saying dacoits had attacked him. But the officers pulled out their identity cards.

The prisoner was taken to a tea stall where local people guarded him till more policemen arrived. Somen was taken to Barasat police station and then to the CID headquarters in Calcutta.

The police, who want to separate the two Maoists to pre-empt rebel bids to free them, officially declared Deba was arrested from Kamarkundu, Hooghly. “Tomorrow, he will be produced at a Serampore court and Somen at Barasat,” an officer said.

In a recent article in CPI (Maoist) organ Biplabi Yug, which Somen edits, the rebel leader had said his outfit had formed the front line in the Nandigram land war.

“We were in Nandigram right from the beginning,” he wrote. “We led the movement at every step…. We were in Nandigram, we are in Nandigram and we will continue to remain in Nandigram.”

Somen, who is from Suryanagar in Khardah, North 24-Parganas, joined the Maoist Communist Centre in the ’70s and later the People’s War Group.

Since the CPI (Maoist) was formed a few years ago, Somen has been overseeing its Bengal operations.

He is known for his organisational skills, and the police believe the arrest is a crucial blow to the rebels.