Guwahati, Sep 20 (IANS): National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested one Maoist from West Bengal in connection with a case in Assam, officials informed on Tuesday.

An NIA spokesperson in Guwahati informed that the activist identified as Samrat Chakraborty alias Nilkamal Sikdar was arrested in West Bengal's Mahispata area near the Kalyani expressway on Monday. The agency was searching for him in a case pertaining to setting up Maoist units in Assam.

As per the investigative agency, Chakraborty was closely related to veteran Maoist leader Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee alias Jyotish alias Kabir alias Kanchan Da a Central Committee Member and an ideologue and strategist of CPI(Maoist) hailing from the Howrah district in Bengal.

Bhattacharjee was believed to be working to expand Maoist base in Assam and the Northeast. He was arrested a few months ago in the Cachar district of Assam.

The NIA spokesperson claimed that Chakraborty was a linkman between the top hierarchy of CPI (Maoist) and Arun Bhattacharjee.

The spokesperson further said that Chakraborty is believed to have visited various districts of Assam in the past on several occasions and assisted Bhattacharjee in his task to expand the footprint of the outlawed group in the state.