Mumbai: The Andhra Pradesh government has announced a reward of Rs 8 lakh for the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team which arrested seven Maoists last year.

The state ATS in January last year raided some eastern suburbs here and arrested seven Maoists of the Golden Corridor Committee, which was formed to spread their ideology in Maharashtra and Gujarat, an official said on Wednesday.

Later, during further investigation, the ATS arrested one more rebel, an official said.

Maoist leader Krishna Lingayya Ghoshka alias Venugopalan, who was wanted by Andhra Pradesh police in connection with a case in 2012, was among those arrested.

The Maharashtra government recently received a communication from Andhra Pradesh that there was a reward of Rs 8 lakh on Venugopalan, an official said.

Appreciating the probe carried by the Maharashtra ATS, the AP government subsequently announced the reward of Rs 8 lakh for the investigation team, he said.

The reward amount along with an appreciation letter was, accordingly, sent by the intelligence department at Hyderabad to Maharashtra Director General of Police, he said.

A government resolution issued by the Maharashtra home department last week gave a nod to accept the cash reward.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Mohankumar Dahikar, Assistant Commissioner of Police Sunil Wadke, police inspectors Sanjay Marathe, Bhaskar Kadam and seven other personnel of the investigating team will share the reward amount, the official said.

The ATS, in a charge sheet filed recently in connection with the case, said it believed that these Maoists were working to form a so-called 'golden corridor', covering Mumbai and neighboring cities of north Maharashtra, and south Gujarat (including Surat).

The charge sheet also claimed that young people were recruited to join the Maoist movement and take up arms to fight in the areas dominated by ultras.

Besides Venugopalan, the others rebels arrested by the ATS were Satyanarayan Karrella, Babu Wanguri, Shankarayya Gunde, Ravi Marampelli, Ramesh Golala, Narsayya Jumpala and Saidul Singapanga. PTI

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