Orissa asks Andhra about arrested wife of Maoist leader

BHUBANESWAR - Orissa has sought details from Andhra Pradesh on a top Maoist leader’s wife who was on her way to meet her son when she was arrested last week, a senior police official said Tuesday.

Orissa Police arrested Padma along with three others from an area in Koraput district close to the Andhra Pradesh border, over 500 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, when they were on their way to a nearby area Nov 13.

Padma, 40, is the wife of top Maoist leader Rama Krishna alias RK, the police official said on condition of anonymity. He said RK is a central committee leader and general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border special zonal committee of the Maoists.

Padma lived in Andhra Pradesh before her arrest. She is also a senior Maoist leader and carried a reward of Rs.2 lakh on her head in Andhra Pradesh, he said.

“It was a big catch and we have got more information on how Maoists operate,” the official who did not want to be identified told IANS.

“We have asked Andhra Pradesh to provide all the information it has on Padma,” he said.

Preliminary investigations reveal that she had come to meet her son Prithvi alias Munna who is also a Maoist leader and is engaged in rebel activities somewhere in Narayan Patna area of Koraput district, he said.

The three others arrested with Padma were the owner of the vehicle and two women. While one of the women was a new Maoist recruit, the other was a senior cadre, the official said.

A book named Awami Jung, a few letters, literature, maps which mentioned Jehanabad in Bihar and Nayagarh in Orissa, were among several documents we recovered from them, he said.

In the 2005 Jehanabad jailbreak, more than 300 inmates, including 150 Maoist rebels, escaped after the rebels attacked the prison.

Similarly, a large number of rebels attacked the government and police establishment at Nayagarh town in Orissa February 2008 that left 13 policemen dead.

Padma is now in judicial custody. However, we may apply for her remand after receiving more details from Andhra Pradesh, the official said, adding that further investigations could help police get leads about her husband, son and the Maoist network across the country.