A senior Maoist leader has been arrested in the southern Indian state of Kerala, police say.
The rebels have a strong presence across large parts of India
They say that Malla Raji Reddy was arrested in the town of Angamaly in what they describe as a "big blow" to the Maoist movement.
Mr Reddy was in charge of the rebels in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
On Sunday over 100 Maoist rebels escaped from a prison in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
Thousands of people have died in the course of a 30-year insurgency being fought by the Maoists across a swathe of central and southern India.
The rebels say that they are fighting for the rights of landless farmers and neglected tribes.
Police say that Mr Reddy has been underground for over three decades, and is a contemporary of the overall Maoist chief, Ganapathy.
They say that his arrest could inhibit the capability of the Maoists to carry on inflicting attacks against the security forces.
Over the last two years police say they have arrested or killed numerous senior Maoist leaders.
More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' decades-long fight for a communist state in parts of India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the Maoists pose the most serious threat to national security in India.
The rebels operate in 182 districts in India, mainly in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.