Dhanbad: A CPI(Maoist) power couple active for over two decades in Saranda and Chaibasa, West Singhbhum, with a combined Rs 40 lakh reward on their heads, were arrested on Thursday morning from near a clinic in coal town, police said.
Sonwa Tuddu, 46, special area committee member of CPI(Maoist), and his wife Ankita, 38, a state committee member of Nari Mukti Sangh, the frontal women's wing of the Maoists, were nabbed based on a tip-off that the couple had come to Dhanbad to see a gynaecologist.
They were sent to Chaibasa, West Singhbhum, on Thursday evening, amid heavy security escorted by the district's DSP Manish Kumar.
Both Sonwa and Ankita had several aliases. Sonwa went by other names such as Phulchand Tuddu, Rajesh Santhal, Harish, Prabhakar Tuddu. Ankita, on her part, went by names such as Mugli Murmu, Sunita and Santoshi.
Originally from Maniadih in Dhanbad's Tundi block, Sonwa had Rs 25 lakh price on his head and was wanted in 22 cases of Naxalite violence in Saranda-Chaibasa, including attacks on CRPF and police, and was also on the radar of police in Chhattisgarh, Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha for his rebel activities.
Hailing from Giridih's Pirtand, Ankita, who joined the banned organisation at age 12, had Rs 15 lakh reward on her head for orchestrating attacks on police pickets, among others.
Dhanbad SSP Manoj Ratan Chothe called the arrest an achievement. "Sonwa Tuddu joined the Maoist organisation in 1991-92 when he was around 20. Villager Mangal Tuddu's son, Sonwa was active in Tundi and Pirtand till 1996-97 before shifting to Bundu in Ranchi region. In 2001, he was given responsibility to expand CPI(Maoist) in Saranda in 2001 and became a member of its special area committee in 2007," the SSP said. He added that Sonwa and Ankita, who were married in 2006 in Saranda.
"Ankita was a prominent woman Maoist, active in Parasnath and Dumka, before shifting to Saranda where she met and married Sonwa. She is not only a state committee member of Nari Mukti Sangh but also a nominated member of the Maoist organisation's Jharkhand Regional Committee," he said.
