Maoist couple carrying Rs 40 lakh reward arrested

A Maoist couple carrying a total reward of Rs 40 lakh on their heads were arrested here, police said today.

Jharkhand government had declared rewards of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 15 lakh on the heads of Sonua Tudu and his wife Mugli Murmu respectively.

Senior superintendent of police Manoj Ratan Chothe said the couple were arrested when they were at a fertility clinic here two days ago.

Mugli Murmu is two months pregnant.

The couple was wanted in seven states -- Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the SSP said.

The two were residents of Maniyadih area of Dhanbad district but they had played major roles in setting up the Maoist organization and violence in Saranda area of Chaibasa and West Singhbhum and Bundu area of Ranchi.

There are 22 cases against Sonua Tudu and 3 cases against his wife in different police stations, Chothe said.

"Since both of them were involved in several incidents in Chaibasa, Dhanbad police hand over them to Chaibasa police," he said.