New Delhi [India], January 16 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested an absconding accused in a 2021 CPI (Maoist) conspiracy case involving attempts to re-energise the banned terrorist organisation in the Magadh Zone, the agency said in a press release.

The accused, identified as Chandan Kumar, was nabbed in Mumbai. A resident of district Jehanabad, Bihar, he was an active member of CPI (Maoist) and was involved in raising funds and also encouraging old cadres to rejoin the outfit to carry out acts of terrorism, it said.

The NIA Special Court at Ranchi, Jharkhand, had earlier declared Chandan as an absconder and, in October 2023, issued non-bailable arrest warrants against him.

NIA had registered the case RC-05/2021/NIA/RNC suo moto in December 2021 against Pradyuman Sharma - a Special Area Committee Member of CPI(Maoist), along with Yogendra Ravidas, Nagendra Giri - an armed cadre of CPI (Maoist), Abhinav @ Gaurav @ Bittu, and Dhananjay Paswan, an arms supplier for the organisation.

As per NIA investigations, these accused had conspired to revive the CPI (Maoist) in Magadh Zone, and, in furtherance of the conspiracy, had raised funds for procuring arms and ammunition and training the organisation's cadres in the fabrication of IEDs. The funds were raised by the accused through extortion and collection of levy from contractors, and were laundered through various channels, the release said.

NIA investigations had further revealed that the accused had also planned to connect with incarcerated Naxals and Over Ground Workers (OGWs) lodged in various jails for commission of terrorist acts as part of their revival agenda. Following its investigation, the agency had chargesheeted the five accused, all members of CPI (Maoist), and had launched a manhunt for Chandan.