By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Two most wanted Maoist leaders, including an alleged mastermind in the killing of Hindu leader Laxmanananda Saraswati, were arrested in Orissa Monday, the police said.
The two leftist militant leaders, Atul and Ashutosh, were arrested near steel city of Rourkela, some 470 km from here, Orissa Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj told IANS
Atul was allegedly involved in the killing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader and four of his associates Aug 23 last year in Kandhamal district. The murders triggered widespread communal violence in the state and left at least 38 people, mostly Christians, dead.
Ashutosh was member of the central military commission of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, the police said.
Asutosh was wanted in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar. He was allegedly involved in hundreds of crimes in these states, the police said.
He was alleged to have masterminded the attack in Orissa’s Nayagarh town in February last year, in which at least 14 people, including 13 policemen, were killed.