Kolkata:

Maoist leader Arnab Dam, who is currently in jail in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, appeared for an interview in the Burdwan State University on Wednesday for his PhD degree in history.

Dam, who appeared for the interview under the watch of the police, is in jail in connection with an attack on the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) camp at Silda in West Midnapore district in February 2010.

He was convicted in February last year.

Dam had cleared the State Eligibility Test (SET) after appearing for the examination from jail. As the prison authorities were reluctant to allow him to do his PhD, he sat on a fast.

After the human rights group Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) took up Dam’s case, the prison authorities softened their stand.

Dam is known to be a meritorious student who cleared the IIT entrance test and got into IIT-Kharagpur. While on campus, he got attracted to Maoist ideology and absconded after his third-semester exam.

He was arrested in 2012 as an accused in the Silda EFR camp attack case.

Dam completed his graduation and post-graduation from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) while in prison. Thereafter, he applied for a PhD from the Burdwan State University.

Gadchiroli:

Dreaded Maoist Nangsu Tumreti alias Giridhar, who has more than 170 cases registered against his name and a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on his head, surrendered along with his wife in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district on Saturday in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a police official said.

His wife Sangeeta Usendi alias Lalita has 17 cases against her name and a bounty of Rs 16 lakh on her head, the official added.

Giridhar, who joined the Etapalli Dalam of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 1996, is the head of the proscribed movement’s activities in Gadchiroli, the official said.

“He has 179 cases against his name, including 86 related to encounters and 15 of arson. His wife Sangeeta Usendi alias Lalita has 17 cases against her name and a bounty of Rs 16 lakh on her head. Giridhar will get Rs 15 lakh and Lalita Rs 8.50 lakh from Central and state governments under the surrender and rehabilitation scheme,” the official added.

Speaking to reporters, Devendra Fadnavis said the backbone of the Maoist movement in Gadchiroli has broken with the surrender of Giridhar.

He lauded the Gadchiroli police for its relentless efforts to end the Naxal menace and bring ultras back into the mainstream.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

At least 13 Maoists were killed by security forces in a major operation ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh. Police said the gunfight took place in a remote forest in Bijapur district on Tuesday. The exchange of fire, lasting for about eight hours, left the area fraught with tension and marked by the aftermath of battle.

Inspector General of Police, P Sundarraj, said officers have seized a large cache of rifles, machine guns, and ammunition.

“The identity of the Maoist dead bodies is yet to be established,” Mr Sundarraj said, adding that three of those killed were women.

Another police official said that prima facie, it appears that the insurgents killed

“The identity of the dead Naxalites was yet to be ascertained but prima facie, it appears that they belonged to the PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army) company no. 2 of Maoists,” the official said.

The operation, spearheaded by Bijapur District Reserve Guard, in collaboration with CRPF, STF, and CoBRA teams, was a concerted effort to eliminate the threat posed by the Maoists in the area. Intelligence had indicated the presence of the notorious Maoist leader, Papa Rao, prompting the security forces to launch the operation.

During the search of the encounter site, security forces recovered a substantial cache of arms and ammunition, including one LMG, one .303 bore rifle, and one 12 bore rifle, along with a significant quantity of BGL shells and launchers.

Bijapur district comes under the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, which will go to polls in the first phase of the general elections on April 19.