Maoist area commander arrested

A Maoist area commander was arrested on Sunday with weapons at a village in Begusarai district, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided Pali village and nabbed the Maoist, identified as Bihari Paswan, and seized from him a pistol, seven cartridges and four mobile phones, besides Naxal literature, Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Kumar said.

Paswan, said to be the CPI(Maoist)'s area commander of Ganga-Gandak zonal committee, was wanted by police in over a dozen cases of Naxal violence in the district and surrounding areas, he said.