A trade union leader in Assam’s Silchar was on Monday taken into custody by the police on suspicions of having links to Maoists.

According to reports, the Cachar district Secretary of the Assam Wage Workers’ Union was arrested by the police.

A Crime Branch unit from Guwahati was conducting an operation in Silchar during which Dharitri Sharma, the union leader, was taken into custody.

Officials detained Sharma from his residence at Sonapur in Borkhola in the Cachar district of the state.

Following his arrest, Dharitri Sharma was brought to Guwahati for further questioning by the Crime Branch team.

He was arrested based on the revelations made by hardcore Maoist leader Kanchan da, who had been arrested earlier in connection with the matter, according to officials.

It may be noted that Assam police on April 7, 2022, arrested one person from Kamrup district for his alleged links with Maoist groups.

The arrested individual, identified as Hridoy Kalita, was arrested from his residence at Chaygaon near Guwahati city.

As per reports, the arrest was made based on the investigation after the arrest of Maoist Central Committee leader Kanchan Da, the month before.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said then that there was a resurgence of Maoists trying to establish a base in Assam and the state police are effectively tackling it.

He further asserted that the Maoist network in Assam would soon be neutralized.

On March 7, prominent Maoist leader, Arun Kumar Bhattacharya alias Kanchan da was arrested from Assam’s Cachar district. He was a central committee member of the CPI-Maoist.

There are over 200 cases registered against the 70-year-old maoist leader, the Guwahati Police Commissioner Harmeet Singh said.

He also informed that the core Maoist committee member also had a huge bounty on his head at the time of arrest.