Kanker: A senior Maoist leader with a Rs 25 lakh bounty was arrested by security forces in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, marking a key victory in the fight against Left-wing extremism, said a senior police official.

Prabhakar Rao, also known as Balmuri Narayan Rao, a member of the banned CPI (Maoist) Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, was arrested on Sunday in the Antagarh area, said Bastar IG Sundarraj P.

The 57-year-old Maoist leader, responsible for logistics and closely linked to top Maoist officials, had a Rs 25 lakh bounty on his head, according to authorities.

“For the past few days, the Kanker district police had been receiving information about the activities of senior cadre Prabhakar Rao of the North Bastar Sub-Zonal Bureau of the banned Maoist organization. Acting on the information, security forces surrounded and arrested Prabhakar Rao in the Antagarh police station area on Sunday. Rao is being questioned,” the IPS officer said.

The senior police official said the arrest of Rao, an important cadre of the Maoist organization of the North Bastar region, was a significant success for security forces and it will give an edge in curbing Maoist activities.

“The senior leader joined Maoist ranks as a member in 1984. He was working for the organization for the last 40 years. He was currently in-charge of logistic supply and Mobile Political School (MOPOS) team in the North Sub-Zonal Bureau,” the official informed.

“Dozens of criminal cases have been registered against Prabhakar Rao in several states, including Chhattisgarh. He has been a close associate of top Maoist leaders of Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. He is the cousin of Central Committee Member (CCM) Secretary Ganapati,” said Sundarraj.

“Rao has close links with senior Maoist leaders like Central Committee Member (CCM) Secretary Basava Raju, K Ramchandra Reddy alias Raju, Devji alias Kuma Dada, Kosa, Sonu, Mallaraja Reddy alias Sangram. His wife, a Divisional Committee Member Raje Kange, is in-charge of the Raoghat Area Committee,” the official added.

Originally hailing from Birpur village in Telangana, he had been acting in several states, said the IPS officer.

“Prabhakar Rao had been active in undivided Andhra Pradesh, Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh, North Bastar, Koylibeda, Manpur-Mohla areas of Chhattisgarh. He worked in the supply team and urban network in the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee from 2005 to 2007,” he added.

A total of 884 Maoists have been arrested so far this year in the seven districts that form Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-affected Bastar administrative division, including Kanker, Sundarraj informed.

(with agency inputs)