Ranchi, June 25: A 22-year-old Maoist, allegedly one of the masterminds of the killing of former Pakur SP Amarjit Balihar and five other policemen, was arrested from Shikaripara area of Dumka district this morning.

Rs 1,600 in cash, a mobile phone, Maoist periodical Lal Chingari and a bicycle were recovered from Simon Soren alias Seemant Soren.

A resident of Jambani village in Burdwan district of neighbouring Bengal, Simon was rounded up near Chhatupura village around 7am when he was moving around on a bicycle.

Sources claimed that police, following a tip-off, had been keeping tabs on his movement since he arrived here around four days ago before laying the trap.

Dumka SP Vipul Shukla said Simon was a named accused in five major cases of Maoist violence in Dumka and Pakur, including the ambush on Balihar and his team.

The former Pakur SP and five other policemen - driver Ashok Srivastava, SP's bodyguard Chandan Kumar Thapa, constables Manoj Kumar Hembrom, Rajiv Kumar Sharma and Santosh Mandal - were killed on Dumka-Pakur road near Kathikund, 25km from the district headquarters, on their way to Pakur after attending a meeting with DIG Dubey on July 2, 2013.

Constable Bablu Kumar Murmu, SP's bodyguard Levinus Marandi and Dharmraj Muraiya were injured in the attack.

The other cases include one filed at Kathikund police station, two at Shikaripara thana - both in Dumka - and one filed at Littipara thana of Pakur district.

"Simon is barely 22-year-old with a boyish look but he has masterminded several major Maoist attacks in the recent years. He moves around alone and finds out loopholes to plan attacks on security forces. Wherever he went, Maoists had executed some attacks. Apart from these five cases, we are trying to find out his role in other incidents too," Shukla added.

The Dumka SP further said though he had been engaged in Maoist operations in different parts of Jharkhand, his involvement in neighbouring states could not be ruled out at the moment.

Police sources claimed Simon, the son of Devi Soren, was married to Sunita of Pirtand area in Giridih district.

"Sunita is a member of Nari Mukti Sanghthan, a Maoist frontal organisation of women. Simon used to visit Sunita's place in Pirtand regularly. We are now trying to find if he had any plan in Shikaripara or Pirtand. He was basically a planner and used to prepare detailed strategies for attacks," said an officer involved in the investigations.

During interrogations, Simon had revealed some vital information about the latest developments in the Maoist organisation, he added.