Top Maoist leader Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da and his wife Sheela Marandi, also a top leader of the outfit, were arrested on Friday.
As per reports, 75-year-old Bose, popularly known as Kishan Da, the second in command in the CPI (Maoist) and his wife Sheela Marandi, the lone female member in the Central Committee of the outfit, were arrested by Jharkhand police.
Bose is one of the senior-most Maoist leaders and was the head of the Maoist Communist Center of India (MCCI) before merging with the CPI-ML (People’s War) to form the CPI (Maoist) in 2004.
The revolutionary leader played a key role in the unification of MCCI and CPI-ML (PW), which led to the formation of the CPI (Maoist).
Bose is currently a member of the CPI (Maoist) Politburo and secretary of the Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB) of the outfit.
As secretary of ERB, he oversees and coordinates the revolutionary movement in Northeastern states, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
Bose is reportedly suffering from multiple ailments and was working from Saranda forests of Jharkhand. He is also known as Nirbhay, Kishan, Kajal and Mahesh.
The top rebel leader hails from the Jadavpur area in West Bengal while his 60-year-old wife Sheela Marandi is from the Dhanbad district of Jharkhand.
She was arrested in Odisha earlier in 2006 and was released from a Rourkela prison.
She joined the outfit again following her release from prison. She is believed to be responsible for leading the women’s wing of the CPI Maoist.
She is also known as Hema, Shpbadi, Asha, Budhani and Guddi.