Kolkata, March 3 (IANS) Key Maoist leader Venkatesh Reddy alias Deepak — who was arrested from Kolkata’s adjoining South 24 Parganas district Tuesday night — was a mechanical engineer and in charge of all city units of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, police said Wednesday.
Acting on a tip off, the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested Reddy from a hideout near Behala’s Sorshuna area — around 15 km from here.

“After the primary interrogation we came to know that Reddy was involved in several killings and Maoist operations in Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore districts. He is basically a mechanical engineer and was in charge of the CPI-Maoist’s all city organisations in Kolkata and its adjoining districts,” state Additional Director General of Police (CID) Raj Kanojia told a press conference here.

He said the CID sleuths had received some important “information and materials” from Reddy.

According to CID sources, Reddy was an explosives expert and very close to top Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji. There are several cases pending against him in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

“There are at least 40 cases pending against this Maoist leader,” Kanojia said, adding that Reddy’s focus areas were Kolkata and its adjoining districts, East Midnapore’s Nandigram and Kherjuri in the past three-four years.

Tuesday’s operation to nab the Maoist leader was carried out by CID’s Special Operation Group.

“Reddy — chief of the CPI-Maoists’ state military commission — was operating the Maoist network from Kolkata’s adjacent areas for the past 10 years. We are in the process of investigating all the aspects of the case now,” Kanojia said, declining to share any other details.

“It’s not possible for us to share all information about him at this point of time. But we are looking into everything about the case,” he said.

State Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh also interrogated Reddy Wednesday, police said.