Last surviving Maoist central committee member Asim Mandal arrested in Bengal

Asim Mandal, the last surviving Maoist central committee member, has been arrested in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Thursday.

Adhikari praised the West Bengal Police’s sharp technical intelligence and exceptional operational competence in arresting Mandal, who had been evading law enforcement for over 15 years across inter-state forest belts.

He said the state government will not tolerate any attempt to revive or expand the network of “Red Terror” in the state. “No extremist ideology will be allowed to jeopardize the safety & security of the People and jeopardize the development of our State. The law will take its strictest course to demolish any such audacious attempt,” Adhikari wrote on X.

Misir Besra, a Maoist Politburo member, was arrested in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad on July 28. Jharkhand Police chief Tadasha Mishra had then said that after Besra, Mandal’s arrest was only a matter of time.

In August, police in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum announced a ₹1.34 crore reward for information about the whereabouts of six Maoists, including Mandal, who had a ₹1 crore bounty. The six Maoists were believed to have left West Singhbhum and holed up in East Singhbhum and neighbouring West Bengal’s Purulia, Jhargram and West Midnapore.

Intensified anti-Maoist operations in Jharkhand led to the arrest of Besra, carrying a ₹2 crore bounty, and the killing of central committee member Patiram Majhi, Lalchand Hembram and three dozen Maoists, and a series of mass surrenders. West Singhbhum was declared Maoist-free in August.

Police in West Bengal and Jharkhand and central paramilitary forces had been searching for these last remaining Maoists.

Jharkhand Police last month said only 18 Maoists were at large, including Mandal. They added that 113 Maoists have been arrested from January to August, 50 have surrendered, and 22 have been killed.

Union home minister Amit Shah told Parliament this year that the March 31 deadline for ending Left-wing extremism across the country had been met. Shah said 4,839 Maoists surrendered, 706 were killed, and 2,218 were arrested and jailed over the three years of heightened anti-Maoist operations.