Jhinia Pusam, 32, was wanted for the 1999 murder of former Madhya Pradesh transport minister Lakhiram Kaware in MP's Balaghat district, police said. She is wanted in more than 45 cases including those of murder, arson and looting in MP.

Both the state police as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation, which was probing Kaware's murder, had announced rewards on her head. Jhinia, a resident of village Rasimata in Balaghat, eastern Madhya Pradesh, joined the Naxals in 1994.

After going underground, she got the names 'Pushpa' and 'Rukma', police said. She was once the commander of Tanda Dalam, which operates along the border between Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district and Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, said the police.

Also, she had been the former commander of Darakasa Dalam which operates in MP and Maharashtra, and ex-commander of Job Dalam of Rajnandgaon, police said. After becoming a Naxal, Jhinia went through two marriages; both the husbands were fellow Naxals, police said.

"We are interrogating her to extract vital information regarding the Naxals," said Inspector General of Police (Balaghat and Mandla districts) C B Muniraju.