Ajay Kanu, 56, looks like any other middle-class man walking down a road in Bihar’s capital, Patna. He’s in blue jeans, black sports shoes, and a checked polycot shirt. He sports a bit of a middle-aged belly, and his spectacled, mildly pudgy face does not conform to the stereotype of a dangerous Naxal laughing in death’s face.
“It was in prison that I learnt who I was,” says Kanu, who has been a free man for a couple of years now, having served 18 years in several jails in the State. The erstwhile Naxal commander, accused in 50 cases of murder, today looks upon the world with forgiveness and some faith.
In 2005, Kanu, alias Sao, or the more sedate Raviji, was the reason behind the Jehanabad jailbreak that led to 389 prisoners, including several Maoists and hardcore criminals, escaping. Nearly a dozen people were killed and about half a dozen injured; police rifles and bullets were looted. The strength of the overcrowded Jehanabad jail at the time was 659; the official capacity was 140.
