Live Updates of 2021 Assembly Election News: Chhatradhar Mahato, an influential tribal leader and active worker of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Jangalmahal, was arrested by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Sunday in a case related to the hijacking of the Bhubaneshwar-Delhi Rajdhani Express in October 2009, an agency official told News18. Mahato, a former Naxal leader, “was arrested around 4 am at his residence in Amliya at the Lalgarh police station,” the official said. The case involves 500 suspected Maoist cadres who besieged the premium train on October 27, 2009, near Banstala station in Jhargram, demanding the release of Mahato, who was then behind bars. The train was under their control for about five hours, before personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and state police commandos arrived at the scene and forced the hijackers to retreat.
The TMC raised questions about the timing of Mahato’s arrest, which came a day after the first phase of the elections in West Bengal. While several seats in the Jangalmahal area went to the polls on Saturday, some have yet to vote. Observers feel that Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee has cornered both Mahato, who has actively campaigned for the TMC in Jangalmahal, and his wife Niyati to strengthen the party in tribal-dominated areas, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took hold in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
Mahato is also under scan for the assassination of a Communist Party of India (Marxist), the CPI (M), leader in the Lalgarh area on June 14, 2009. At that time, he was the convener of the People’s Committee against the Police Atrocities (PCAPA), which is believed to be a front organization of the outlaw PCI (Maoist).
.
