The real name Rajan Mukti, who has owned up responsibility for a bomb blast at Ramananda Chowk, Janakpur on Monday that killed four people, is Ranjit Jha.

A resident of Lakshmipur Bagewa VDC, Dhanusha, Mukti started his political career as a student leader of Sadbhavana Party while studying at Ramswaroop Ramsagar (RR) Multiple Campus, Janakpur.

After Jaya Krishna Goit launched Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) in July, 2004, he joined the Morcha and became underground. But in 2007, he along with another JTMM leader, Nageshwar Paswan aka Jwala Singh left JTMM to form a separate group called Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (Jwala Singh). Mukti took the charge of Saptari district of this newly formed party.

But their partnership did not last long. Mukti quit the Jwala Singh´s group after disputes over the ransoms extorted by the group and formed his own group called Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (Rajan Mukti). He spread his organization across Saptari and Parsa districts. Soon, Mukti´s group was outdoing all other armed outfits in murder, kidnap, extortions and bomb blasts in the Tarai.

Mukti made it to the police list of most wanted criminals following the murder of Kumar Niraula, a government employee of tax office, Janakpur, on Dec 13, 2008. While searching for Mukti, police arrested his father Dr Bidyananda Jha and elder brother Manoj Jha on Dec 15, 2008. Manoj was then a leader of Sadbhavana Party.
Janakpur blast kills four injures over 30
Within 15 days of Niraula´s murder, his group killed five more poeple in the Tarai. But during that time, then Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma had started negotiations with armed outfits of the Tarai to end violence. Mukti´s party, in a tactical move, announced its desire to negotiate with the government and Manoj and his father Bidyananda were subsequently released. Manoj was one of the members in the talks team from Mukti´s party.

Mukti´s party, which had stopped its criminal activities after joining talks with the government, again went underground during the premiership of Madhav Kumar Nepal. While recuperating from a long illness, he named Manoj as the acting leader of the party. But soon disputes started between the siblings and the group split in August 2011.

A few days later, on September 3 of the same year, Manoj under his chairmanship launched a new partycalled Tarai Communist Party by combining various fringe armed outfits including Jantantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha, Tarai Communist Party (Revolutionary), Tarai Socialist Party, Madheshi Silent Killers, Tarai Control Army, Tarai-Madhesh Jatiya Manch, Madhesh Parishad, Madhesh Ekta Manch and Tarai Republican Force.