Two Maoists, including a State committee member of the banned outfit, were arrested by the police near the bus station in Charla town of Bhadradri Kothagudem district on Thursday, police said.
A .22 revolver along with six live rounds of .22 caliber, ₹3.40 lakh cash, two mobile phones, a memory card and a pen drive besides revolutionary literature were seized from them.
Police identified the arrested duo as 65-year-old Thota Seetharamaiah alias Krishnanna, CPI (Maoist) State committee member, and 25-year-old Padham Rajkumar alias Amarender, a dalam member of the outlawed organisation.
Mr. Seetharamaiah, a native of Chintiryala in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, carried a bounty of ₹20 lakh on his head. Mr. Rajkumar of Nerella village in Jagtial district carried a cash reward of ₹1 lakh on his head, the police added.
According to the police, Mr. Seetharamaiah joined the then People’s War Group (PWG) in 1982 and worked as an underground cadre in both Telangana and Chhattisgarh. He has been working as State committee member of CPI (Maoist) since 2014.
He was allegedly involved in a slew of cases of Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar region.
Mr. Rajkumar had joined the CPI (Maoist) in 2019 and working as a dalam member since then, police said, adding that he was wanted in connection with several cases, including the murder of ex-MPTC Nalluri Srinivas by Maoists in Charla mandal in Bhadradri Kothagudem district in 2019.
