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Dreaded Bihar don
Akhilesh Singh arrested

Akhilesh Singh, the notorious don and husband of National Democratic Alliance-backed independent legislator Aruna Devi, was nabbed by Central Reserve Police Force personnel in a village in Nawada district of Bihar after an encounter on Thursday evening.

Akhilesh suffered bullet injuries on his forearm while one of his associates, Pankaj Singh, died in the encounter.

His arrest is being rated as one of the biggest successes of the police in the recent past. The news even brought a sigh of relief in the NDA camp as Akhilesh's criminal activities had put it in an embarrassing situation.

Thrity-two-year-old Akhilesh is a Bhumihar, an upper caste, and his gang was at loggerheads with the Kurmi gang led by Ashok Mahto. The Kurmi's are a backward caste.

Akhilesh was a terror in the entire Nawada-Nalanda belt and had been evading arrest with the tacit backing of some lower level officials of the state administration.

However, he was caught caught unprepared on Thursday evening.

He was eating pani puri on the roadside a few kilometres from Nawada. On receiving a tip off, the Nawada police immediately informed the CRPF unit in the region, which rushed to nab him.

According to the police Akhilesh's lieutenant Pankaj opened fire when he spotted some CRPF personnel approaching him. The police retaliated killing him on the spot while an injured Akhilesh tried to escape. However, the CRPF personnel managed to nab him.

Wanted in 40 cases of murder, Akhilesh's name figured in several incidents of caste violence that rocked central Bihar in the past couple of years.

In June, 13 Bhumihars, including Akhilesh's brother, were gunned down in Afsar village of Nawada district when Kurmis attacked his ancestral village in retaliation to several killings of Kurmis and Yadavs in the region.

The incident came as a major embarrassment to the Samata party as both these castes constitute its support base and voted for the party in the last Lok Sabha and February 2000 assembly elections.

Samata president Nitish Kumar, a Kurmi leader, tried to bring about a truce in the region but failed.

Akhilesh's wife, Aruna Devi, the independent Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly from Warisaliganj, extended support to Nitish Kumar when he became chief minister for seven days last March.

EARLIER REPORT
15 killed in Bihar caste violence

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