Top Naxal husband-wife duo held by Maha cops from Telangana

Senior Naxal operative Kiran Kumar and his wife the Narmada were detained by Maharashtra police from neighbouring Telangana, an official said Tuesday.

The couple is accused of masterminding the attack on BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi at Shyamagiri hills in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on April 9. The legislator and four of his security personnel were killed after their vehicle was blown by the rebels.

The Maharashtra police were on the lookout for the couple in connection with another attack in Gadchiroli's Kurkheda area on May 1 in which 15 Quick Response Team personnel and the driver of their vehicle were killed. An official said Kumar (63), also known by alias Kiran Dada, and the Narmada, alias Krishna Kumari (60), were members of the Naxals' "state committee" and carried rewards of Rs 20 lakh each on their heads. He dubbed the Narmada a "prize catch" as she masterminded or was involved in the planning and executing of all major attacks on security personnel in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, and was on the run for 22 years.

She was in charge of the Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sanghatan (KAMS), a front organisation of the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist), under the "dandakaranya special zonal committee", the official said. Kumar, hailing from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, has been underground for over two decades, he added.