The 21 cadres of Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN arrested from Dang early Thursday morning include central member and Chand's elder brother Chandra Bahadur Chand (Birgunj) and Rapti bureau incharge Keshav Bahadur Bantha Magar (Subash).
The police have yet to formally announce the name of the arrested cadres and will hold a press conference in the afternoon for that but Setopati has learned that they include Chand's elder brother, Rapti bureau incharge, and most likely incharge of Dang, Salyan, Pyuthan, Rolpa and Rukum districts in erstwhile Rapti.
They were arrested from a house in the jungle at Rapti rural municipality 4 of the district near the border with India at around one in the morning. Spokesperson with Dang Police Binod Bikram Shah told Setopati that the 21 cadres were arrested after a tip-off that a meeting of Rapti bureau was being held there for three days in presence of central members.
The then Maoists had used Dang as a shelter during the decade-long insurgency and most of their big leaders stayed there. The Maoists brought weapons using 38 kilometers of open border with India joined with jungle during the insurgency.
Chand also announced the new party at a cinema hall in Tulsipur of Dang. Born in Rolpa, Chand later migrated to Kapilvastu but police claim that he still remains in the vicinity of Dang and Rolpa most of the times.
The cadres were in a meeting at the house of one Gyanendra Oli, whose family does not stay in the house, at the time of arrest.
Police claim significant quantity of arms and explosives, and important documents have been recovered as the house was encircled at the time of meeting and the cadres arrested.
List of arrested persons:
Central member, Lumbini bureau incharge and mid-western command incharge, and Chand's elder brother Chandra Bahadur Chand (Birgunj); Rapti bureau incharge Keshav Bahadur Bantha Magar (Subash); Rapti bureau member and coordinator of district justice committee Ram Bahadur Thapa (Sundar); Rapti bureau office secretary Sabin Pokharel; district incharge Yam Lal Katuwal (Bikram); district secretary Pradeep Oli; central chairman of youth association Babin KC (Patan, Junglee); intellectual Sunil Paudel; Area No 4 incharge and district people's council member Ek Raj Chaudhary; Area No 1 incharge and Rajpur rural municipality secretary Dhan Bahadur Bohara (Mahan); former Maoist combatant Tilak Pun; district chairman of dalit liberation front Suraj BK; party member Hit Prasad Roka; Posta Man Gharti; Dal Bahadur Gharti; Amit Gharti Magar; Balkrishna Sharma; Jeet Chhetri; Ramesh Acharya; Kul Bahadur Oli; and Bishnu Thapa.
