A Naxal `commander', who carried a reward of Rs 20,000 on his head, was arrested in the Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, police said.
Among other incidents, he was allegedly involved in the ambush in Dhaudai in which 27 CRPF troopers were killed in 2010.
Dhansingh Korram (35) alias Sukhdev was involved in several attacks on security personnel in the area, Narayanpur Additional Superintendent of Police O P Sharma told PTI.
A team of local police was on a combing operation in the forest in the Jhara police station limits, around 350 km from here, when it came upon and nabbed Korram, he said.
"His arrest is crucial, ahead of the elections, as he might have been involved in creating disturbance during the polling," he said.
Korram had been a commander, militia commander and platoon commander in the outlawed CPI (Maoist), and was active in Jhara and Dhaudai regions of the Naxal stronghold of Abhujmad, the ASP said.