Ranchi: The arrest of CPI (Maoist) politburo member Misir Besra, 65, has ended his four-decade involvement in Left-wing extremism, police said. A native of Giridih district, Besra played a key role in expanding the outfit in undivided Bihar and later Jharkhand.Police described the arrest as a major breakthrough in Jharkhand’s fight against Left-wing extremism, which they claimed was nearing elimination.According to police records, Besra is an accused in 175 cases, including murder and attempted murder, besides offences under the IPC, Arms Act, Criminal Law Amendment Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.He was allegedly involved in a Sept 2001 attack in Hazaribag’s Churchu area, in which 12 police personnel were killed and eight self-loading rifles, two light machine guns and two carbines looted. The following month, another attack in Dhanbad left 13 policemen dead. The attackers looted 18 SLRs, two guns and a pistol.Police also linked Besra and his associates to the 2005 loot of 186 rifles from a home guard magazine in Giridih. He was named a mastermind of the 2005 Jehanabad jailbreak in Bihar and accused in the 2022 killing of two bodyguards of former MLA Gurucharan Nayak in Manoharpur.DGP Tadasha Mishra said Besra was trying to move from Saranda to Parasnath to rebuild the organisation following sustained security operations. “We will ensure his conviction in the pending cases,” she said.A graduate, Besra came under the influence of Maoist Communist Centre leaders Prashant Bose and Kisan Da during his student days. He joined the movement in 1986 and handled its press wing in Kolkata before expanding operations around Ranchi.He formed the South Chhotanagpur regional committee in 1997, helped establish the Jharkhand regional committee and joined the central committee in 2003. After the MCC-PWG merger, he headed the eastern regional bureau’s military command.
