A senior Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) couple was arrested by a special Police team of the Ramagundam Police Commissionerate from Indaram village in Jaipur Mandal (administrative sub division) in Mancherial District of Telangana on December 2, reports The Hindu. Police identified the Maoist couple as Donga Gangadhar Rao alias Narsanna alias Bakkanna alias Vengo Dada (80), a ‘central committee member, CMC’ in the CPI-Maoist technical department, and his wife Bhavani alias Sujata alias Shayamala alias Laxmi (60), a ‘divisional committee member, DCM’ of the outfit’s Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC). Police said that Rao had studied polytechnic in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, in 1969 and moved to Hyderabad for a livelihood. He had worked at a private company in the city during which he got attracted to Naxal [Left Wing extremism, LWE] ideology and subsequently joined the then Peoples’ War Group (PWG) outfit in 1980. He had gone underground in 2000. The CPI-Maoist ‘central committee (CC)’ entrusted him with the responsibility of the technical department involved in the task of manufacturing weapons and explosives, the Police added. The couple had been staying in Indaram under a false identity for the last 10 months. They allegedly purchased land and constructed a small house in the village using fake Aadhaar and PAN cards. The couple had been tasked with strengthening the Maoist urban network, motivating youth to join the outfit, and carrying out disruptive activities at the behest of some senior Maoist leaders. A case has been registered under Section 120 (B) r/w 34 Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 10, 13, 18, and 18 (b) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967. Two fake Aadhaar and PAN cards, INR 157,900 cash, two mobile phones, electronic gadgets, copies of CPI-Maoist Telangana State second plenary resolutions and other documents were recovered from their possession.