Two alleged Naxalites, including a senior leader of the ultra-Left movement, were arrested from a northeastern suburb of Mumbai and arms and ammunitions seized from them, the police said on Monday.
Sridhar Krishnan Srinivasan, who is allegedly a member of the national politburo of the Naxal movement, and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested by the Anti Terrorism Squad of the police in an operation carried out on Sunday night in the suburb of Govandi, Director General of Police P S Pasricha said.
"We have recovered two pistols, explosives like gelatin sticks, detonators, walkie-talkies, 106 CDs with Naxal literature, a laptop and a pen drive from them," Pasricha said.
He said data regarding the location of Naxal training camps, being run by Naxalites and their financial transactions, which ran into lakhs of rupees, were also recovered from the duo.
The literature and data are related to Naxal leaders and alleged Naxal activist Arun Pereira, who had been arrested some months ago near Nagpur, he said.
The duo was produced before a court where they were remanded to police custody till August 22.
Magistrate P P Suroshe, while granting the police custody, also asked the police to get a fresh medical examination done for the duo following their complaint in the court regarding ill-treatment by the police.
The duo was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Arms Act.
The Naxalites were often found to be operating from major cities since it was easier for them to raise funds from supporters, operate through different fronts and keep in touch with defence lawyers, Pasricha said.
"We will keep in mind that these groups often operate through some non-governmental and other organisations and will be investigating further," he said, adding that the presence of more Naxal activists in the city could not be ruled out.
Srinivasan and Gonsalves were operating under various aliases in different states and had been living in the city for almost a year now, Pasricha said.
Srinivasan is allegedly the secretary of Maharashtra state committee of the Naxal movement and is also in the national policy-making decision body of Naxalites while
Gonsalves is part of the state committee, he said.
Gonsalves was originally the secretary of the state committee but Srinivasan replaced him five years ago, he added.
The DGP also said it was premature to comment on whether the duo was planning to carry out some operation in the city, adding they had been under watch for the past fortnight. He but refused to comment on their antecedents.