Another suspected Maoist cadre held in Assam

Guwahati, April 7 The Assam Police on Thursday arrested a person from the state's Kamrup district for allegedly having links with the Maoists, officials said.

The arrest comes just a few days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a woman from Dibrugarh district.

A police officer said that a Crime Branch team arrested Hriday Kalita from his native village of Chaygaon.

He is being questioned by the senior police officers.

The police, however, have refused to share further details regarding Kalita's arrest.

The NIA had on Sunday conducted searches in 17 different locations in Assam's Cachar, Karimganj, Dibrugarh and Dhubri districts, and also arrested a woman Maoist cadre Reema Orang a.k.a. Saraswati, who has been on the run for a long time.

The NIA and the Assam police stepped up its search after the arrest of a Maoist leader Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee a.k.a. Kanchan Da, a member of the central committee of CPI (Maoist) last month.

The CPI (Maoist) is a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,1967.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that Maoists' threat resurfaced in the state leading to the stepped up operations against them by the security agencies.