Bhopal: In a significant development, Chhattisgarh police on Thursday arrested “hardcore Naxal” Bheema alias Akash, mastermind of abduction of the then Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon in 2012.
Producing the Maoist leader, who was a divisional committee member of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), at the news conference in Raipur, Director General of Police (Naxal operation) of Chhattisgarh D.M.Awasthi said that a covert counter-insurgency operation by special intelligence bureau (SIB) in the conflict-zone of Bastar has led to arrest of Bheema.
He described the rebel as the “prized catch” of police. Bheema who worked under Sujata, a Central Committee leader of CPI (Maoist) and wife of slain Maoist leader Kishenji alias Mallojula Koteswar Rao, had planned and executed Mr Menon’s abduction when the ex-Sukma district collector was participating in a government programme in Manjhipara village under his jurisdiction on April 21, 2012. Bheema was also involved in the attack on a CRPF team on Sukma-Konta high way killing seven jawans in June 2010.
