By IANS
Chennai : Sundaramurthy, an elusive Maoist leader who had managed to dodge the Tamil Nadu police for 15 years, has been nabbed, Additional Director General of Police Nanjil P. Kumaran told reporters Tuesday.
On the run since 1992 and wanted in connection with a number of murders linked to Maoist activities, Sundaramurthy was arrested by the Tamil Nadu police's "Q" Branch, the anti-extremist wing, from his hideout in Tiruppur in Coimbatore district Monday night.
The development is seen as a major success for the state police, which began a crackdown on Maoists suspected to be holed up in different parts of Tamil Nadu with the aim of staging a 'popular uprising'.
It all started on June 25, when villagers close to a forest in the southern district of Theni, led the police to a few 'suspicious' men, later identified as Maoists engaged in arms training and hiding weapons and ammunition in uninhabited hillocks.
Kumaran said questioning of the three men arrested from the Murugamalai forests had led to vital clues about the identities and locations of the key Maoist leaders in the state. The police had formed several teams to follow up leads and intelligence related to Maoists activities in the state.
A police team surrounded 39-year-old Sundaramurthy's hideout in Tiruppur and nabbed him with two of his accomplices identified as Karthi of Ammapettai in Salem and Eswaran of Theni, Kumaran said.
He said Sundaramurthy is a key office-bearer in the state unit of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The two others are district-level operatives of the organisation.
Sundaramurthy is facing 10 criminal cases. He jumped bail in 1992 while he was being tried for a double murder in 1986. After jumping bail, he is said to have killed a suspected 'police informant'.
He has been linked to an attempt to blast a train near Dharmapuri in 1992. This led to his being charged under the now defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, and he was declared a proclaimed offender after he failed to appear in court.
Kumaran said Sundaramurthy is the mastermind behind the arms training camp sought to be established in the Murugamalai forests.
The police official said Karthi had helped Sundaramurthy stock arms and arranged hideouts for him in Salem. He had also outlined a training plan for new recruits. His 'confession' had led to the recovery of a rifle at Pallipattu in Thiruvallur district, close to Chennai.
Easwaran, the third suspect to be arrested, was working in a knitwear company in Tiruppur, a town well known for its hosiery exports.