Eight Maoists arrested in Uttar Pradesh

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The eight hail from Bihar and were arrested in Kanpur's Naubasta town, some 90 km from Lucknow, while they were going to attend a meet convened by the CPI-Maoist.

Earlier, an official statement issued by the state's additional director general of police said seven Maoists were arrested from Naubasta town.

"They include the notorious Balraj, who is believed to have been working for Maoists since 1978 and is accused of killing security personnel in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal," Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal told reporters here.

Maoist literature and cash totalling Rs.8 lakh were recovered from the men.

Preliminary investigations reveal that the Maoists had planned to raise guerrillas in various Uttar Pradesh districts including Deoria, Kanpur, Kushinagar, Azamgarh and Allahabad.

Earlier Saturday, three alleged Maoists were arrested from Gorakhpur and Allahabad districts.

Among them was Balraj's wife Hiram Munda. Besides Balraj, the seven others include Rajendra Kumar, Kripa Shanker, Chintan, Naveen Prasad, Ambreesh, Deepak and Shivraj Singh.