Elusive Maoist couple, trained in automatic weapons, held

An elusive Maoist couple, trained in Karnataka in handling automatic weapons and jungle warfare, was arrested and a laptop, a smartphone and ultra- left, anti-government propaganda materials were seized from their possession, the police said today.
Maoist leader D Dasarathan, on the run since 2003, and his wife Shenbagavalli alias Kanimozhi, on the run for about a decade, were arrested yesterday, the police said.
Dasarathan's brother Vetri Veerapandian was also arrested for giving shelter to the couple and aiding their efforts to recruit cadres for the Maoist movement.
Based on specific intelligence inputs, a police party trailed Vetri Veerapandian. Subsequently, it came to be known that the Maoist couple was on their way to Chennai through Tiruvallur.

Vehicle checkings were intensified and the couple was arrested by a joint team of Tiruvallur police and 'Q' Branch (which deals with national security issues) sleuths.
The couple was arrested at the Pullarambakkam Koot Road, about 20 kms from the Andhra Pradesh border, when they tried to escape after alighting from an autorickshaw and Veerapandian was held from his residence off Poondi, near here, the police said.

Shenbagavalli, whose father Balan was a former Maoist, belongs to Singarapettai village, near Uthangarai, in Krishnagiri district and Dasarathan hails from Othambai village under Pullarambakkam police station limits in Tiruvallur.
"The Maoist couple was trained in Karnataka in modern automatic weapons and Shenbagavalli also got trained in weapons, along with Dharmapuri Naveen, who was killed in an encounter between the police and the Maoists in Kodaikanal in 2008," a police official told PTI.

The couple was planning to recruit cadres and carry out anti-national activities, he added.
A case was registered against the couple at the Pullarambakkam police station under the IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the police official said.
The 'Q' Branch is also looking into the matter. The police official said it was being ascertained as to who came in contact with the Maoist couple in Tamil Nadu and added that they would also be questioned.