Lucknow, Dec 05: A Top Naxal leader was found shot dead in the jungles of Kaimur in Kon area of Sonbhadra district late on Thursday night. The government had earlier announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for the arrest of Ram Vriksha Kol.
Kol, accused of extorting money from mining and forest contractors in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, was wanted since 2001 in over three dozen cases in Sonbhadra, Chandauli and Mirzapur, including the one in which a PAC truck was attacked, killing 16 PAC men in Chandauli in 2004 — including a sub-inspector, two head-constables and 13 constables. Over 35 cases are registered against Kol — 18 in Chandauli, 15 in Sonbhadra and three in Mirzapur.
The police located the body of Kol on the basis of the information given by two Naxals who were arrested on Thursday in an encounter near the forest. A self-loaded rifle — one of the 11 rifles robbed by the Naxals from the Mirzapur PAC camp in 2001 — were recovered along with cartridges and a walkie-talkie.
Superintendent of Police (Sonbhadra) Preetinder Singh said: “Kol died in a fight with Naxal area commander Mun-na Vishwakarma over sharing of extortion money. The two men arrested — Rakesh Mishra alias Bittu and Amarnath Kushwaha — were eyewitnesses to the killing which took place earlier in the day.”
While Mishra, a resident of Kushinagar district, had joined Vishwakarma six months ago, Sonbhadra resident Kushwaha was recruited by the Naxals two months ago.
Singh said that a police team led by him left for the forest area in Kon after the watchman of a village on Bihar border informed the local police about hearing gunshots from the thickets.
The police team, accompanied by CRPF and PAC personnel, started combing the forest when the Naxals fired at them. The team retaliated, forcing the Naxals to flee. The security personnel managed to catch Mishra and Kushwaha.
Singh said Kol, a native of Lauari village in Naugarh area of Chandauli district, had joined the Naxal group led by Munna Vishwakarma in 2000.
He was a local criminal before he joined the Naxals and two cases of road hold-ups were registered against him in 1998. Kol had led the Naxal group which attacked the PAC camp at Kohoradih village in Ahraura area of Mirzapur district in 2001. They had looted 11 SLRs, an LMG and a carbine, besides hundreds of the cartridges after holding the PAC men at gunpoint.
“We have inquired from our Jharkhand and Bihar counterparts about the details of cases registered against Kol in the two states,” Singh added.
–Agencies