Kolkata: The Kolkata police's STF has claimed to have arrested a top Maoist leader - the secretary of the state military commission and Bengal Maoist state committee member Mansaram Hembram - and his wife Tara from the Maidan area.While Mansaram is known as Bikash in the red belt, Tara is also a member of the Madhepur-Salboni squad."Mansaram, known in the red belt as Bikash, is the son of the soil and knows the area very well. He was also the first Maoist to appear before the media during the height of the Lalgarh movement in 2009. This is a big catch," said an officer, adding that Tara is also a member of the rebels' Madhepur-Salboni squad.Though the STF officers claimed that their informers tipped them off about the duo's movement, a section in Lalbazar wondered if it was a surrender for tactical electoral gains engineered somewhere on the Bengal-Jharkhand border. The arrest, though, will cripple the Maoist resurgence in the area. after the party called for a boycott on the elections. The Trinamool Congress , already on the backfoot following the Narada sting and the flyover crash, immediately congratulated the force and claimed that their call that Jangalmahal was safe was not without reason.Joint CP (STF) Vishal Garg said that the accused duo had arrived in the city around 12.10 pm on Saturday but refused to divulge the name of the "leader" they had come to meet. The cops claimed to have recovered a 7.62 pistol, two magazines, nine rounds of live cartridges and several "Maoist literature" in the form of magazines and books like Biplabi Yug, giri, Oitihashik Lalgarh Andolan and its likes. During questioning, the accused claimed that they have another hideout at Chaparui village near Hooghly's Mogra from where cops recovered an AK-47 rifle.Though Bikash is wanted in several cases, including attacks on central forces, police and villagers in Sankrail, Goaltore, Lalgarh and Sarenga, it is believed that the weapon could be one of the nine AK-47 and Insas rifles that went missing after the attack on at Silda when Maoists attacked Silda camp of Eastern Frontier Rifles. Twenty four personnel were also killed during the attack in February 2010. Bikash had been named as one of the main conspirators behind the attack.Sleuths considered Bikash as one who was closest to slain Maoist leader Kishenji and was a top organizer from West Midnapore. He was charged with reorganising the organization in Lalgarh and adjoining forest areas, Intelligence Branch (IB) officials have said since 2012.The IB claimed that the duo, along with the elusive Akash, regularly visited at least 15 villages in West Midnapore's Lalgarh, Salboni and Goaltore telling residents how the government "ditched" the people of Jangalmahal and made "false promises".Maoist leaders had chosen to remain low key since the death of Kishenji in an encounter with security forces and rarely ventured out of their forest hideouts on the Bengal-Jharkhand border. Their only movement was to cross the Kangshabati river and entering Lalgarh and its adjoining areas at night.So, their arrival to Kolkata and Hooghly with pseudo-names has baffled many. "We will ascertain if the Maoists have any plan for the upcoming polls. We are also investigating if they had come all the way to meet the city intelligentsia who might be still backing the Maoists," said Garg.