In a first, jailed Maoist leader Arnab Dam has cleared the State Eligibility Test (SET) for lecturers.

Mr. Dam, 40, also known by his alias Bikram, was one of the high-ranking Maoist leaders of West Bengal during the days of armed uprising in western part of the State about a decade ago. He was considered close to the slain Maoist Polit Bureau member, Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji. He has been named in over two dozen cases.

Mr. Dam continued his studies since his arrest in 2012, completing his Masters degree at Indira Gandhi National Open University. In 1998, he dropped out of the IIT-Kharagpur and joined the Communist party of India-Maoist and worked from the West Bengal-Jharkhand border.

Correctional Services Minister Ujjal Biswas said he was “glad” that Mr. Dam cleared the SET.