Three Maoists arrested in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district

Raipur: A husband and wife couple were among three Maoists arrested on Sunday from separate places in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Dantewada district with police saying all three were carrying rewards on their head.

Dantewada Superintendent of Police, Kamlochan Kashyap, told PTI that dreaded Maoist couple Mallesh alias Dhansingh and his wife Sukay Vetti were apprehended by a joint team of the district force and CRPF 195th?battalion?from Korlapal village forests under Geedam police station.

A combing operation was launched based on intelligence inputs in the Korlapal region, located around 400-km away from the Chhattisgarh state capital of Raipur, to nab the duo, he said.

Mallesh was a prominent leader of CPI (Maoist) and was active as a commander of Section 'A' of military platoon No.1 which is part of military company No.6 of the outlawed outfit, police said.

After joining the banned Maoist movement in 2009, he allegedly executed several deadly attacks in Narayanpur and Dantewada region, said Kashyap.

He was part of the Maoist guerilla squad which killed 27 CRPF jawans in a deadly attack on paramilitary forces under Dhaudai police station limits (Narayanpur) in 2010, the police official said.

Sukay was an active member of the outfit who allegedly assisted her husband in several attacks, Kashyap said, adding that they carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh each on their head.

A two-kilogram tiffin bomb, four detonators, wire and Maoist banners were recovered from their possession, police said.

Meanwhile, a Maoist militia member, Sanu Kadti, too was arrested separately who was allegedly involved in an attack on a police anti-landmine vehicle?in Dantewada's Kirandul region. There was a reward of Rs 35,000 for his arrest.

Acting on a tip-off that Kadti had gone to his native village of Kutrem during the rainy season, a joint team of district police and a special task force was dispatched to nab him, the police official said.

The security personnel arrested Kadti, who was found hiding behind trees, while cordoning off the jungle between Kutrem and Hiroli villages, the police official said.

Maoists had blown up an anti-landmine vehicle on the Cholnar-Kirandul road in Dantewada on April 13, killing five policemen and injuring eight others.

Besides the Cholnar attack, Kadti was involved in various Maoist incidents, including of loot, arson and murder, the police official added.