Tilakdhari Mahto in Hazaribagh on Friday. Picture by Vishvendu Jaipuriar

Dumka/Hazaribagh, April 1: Two Maoists, both wanted for attacks on policemen, have been arrested in the past 24 hours.

Tilakdhari Mahto, alias Amrit Mahto, an area commander of Munrokala accused in the attack on former assistant superintendent of police G. Kranti Kumar (now Koderma superintendent of police), was arrested from Berokala in Barkatha this morning.

On the other hand, Jabar Murmu, alias Pradip Da, was nabbed by Giridih police yesterday morning for killing Jama officer in charge Satanand Singh in an ambush at Talpahari hills, Kathikund, in September last year.

Confirming Tilakdhari’s arrest, Hazaribagh SP Pankaj Kamboj said they had received a tip-off about the Maoist leader’s presence in Berokala.

“We alerted Barkatha officer in charge R.P. Yadav, who conducted a raid and managed to nab him. On the basis of the information provided by him, police recovered a country-made rifle and two live cartridges from Mahuatand forest,” Kamboj said.

Tilakdhari, popularly referred to as D.D. da by his comrades, had also been leading a gang of 12 criminals, who were active in Hazaribagh and Giridih districts.

He joined the CPI(Maoist) in 1997 and was arrested for the first time in 2001. Later he is said to have jumped bail.

Police said on June 17, 2008, armed Maoists had laid siege to GT Road between Atka and Gorhar in the Gorhar police station area and set ablaze three vehicles. Kranti Kumar, the then Giridih ASP, was passing through that stretch and the Maoists attacked his anti-landmine vehicle.

However, Tilakdhari escaped unhurt while a huge posse of policemen and CRPF jawans rushed to the spot and chased the rebels away.

In 2001, Tilakdhari and his men had attacked Bagodar circle office and injured a guard.

“This is a big catch. We had been on the lookout for Tilakdhari for a long time as he is wanted in several other cases of violence,” Kamboj said.

After yesterday’s arrest by Giridih police, Jabar is said to have confessed to having been a part of the Maoist squad that carried out the attack on OC Singh last year.

A two-member team of inspector Rajbali Sharma and town police station officer in charge Shailesh Prasad has rushed to Giridih to quiz him.