Koraput: A top Maoist leader carrying a reward of Rs 20 lakh on his head each in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh was on Saturday arrested without a shot being fired in Koraput district.
The 40-year-old Anil Kumar the second-in-command of the Andhra-Odisha-Border-State Zonal Committee was arrested from Tala Paniki forests by the Special Operation Group, Superintendent of Police, Koraput, Awinash Kumar said.
"We were tipped off about the presence of a group of Maoists in the Tala Paniki forests and an operation was launched. There was no exchange of fire. While other Maoists managed to escape, our men apprehended Anil," Kumar said.
Explosive materials, detonators, wires, Maoist literature and a fake driving license were seized from his possession.
He was being interrogated to ascertain whether he took part in the attack on the Koraput armoury in 2004, Nalco mines at Damanjodi in 2009 and on a BSF convoy near Pottangi in August last year.
The SP said that Kumar gathered intelligence inputs for the Malkangiri division, Koraput-Srikakulam division and East-Visakha division.
Police sources said that during interrogation he expressed a desire to return to the mainstream which would be conveyed to the higher-ups.
The Maoist leader operated in Koraput and Malkangiri in Odisha and Vishakapatnam rural and Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh.
He had joined the Maoists in Andhra Pradesh in 1996 and was promoted to area committee member in 2001.
In 2003, he was elevated as divisional committee member and worked with the Kondabaridi Dalam of Koraput-Srikakulam division till 2009.
His wife, Sandhya alias Deve Padiami, was working in Koraput division in Narayanpatna area as 'Divisional Committee Member'. She was 'in-charge' of Nandapur Area Committee of Maoists.