Indian authorities arrested 65-year-old Misir Besra, a banned CPI(Maoist) politburo member also known as Sagar Da and Bhaskar Da, from Dhanbad district along with two associates. Besra, a resident of Madnadih village in Giridih district with a reported bounty exceeding Rs 1 crore and wanted in 141 cases, joined the group in 1980 and rose to its central committee in 2003. Separate surrender events involving 24 other Maoists were reported in Jharkhand and Bijapur around the same period.