The suspense over the fate of top Maoist leader Sudhakar continues with the Andhra Pradesh police disputing the claim of rebel sympathisers that he was in their custody. Claiming that Sudhakar was in the custody of the Vizianagaram police, Maoist sympathisers and human rights groups have urged the government to produce him in court. The police, however, maintain they have not arrested Sudhakar.

Sudhakar is the Communist Party of India-Maoist’s Andhra-Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee secretary.The police said they arrested one person on Wednesday after a gun battle in Makuva police limits in Vizianagarm near the Andhra-Orissa border. While Maoist sympathisers claimed that the man was none other than Sudhakar, the police said he was not the top Maoist leader.

The police claimed to have arrested Sudhakar’s uncle K Krishna Murthy, an assistant engineer with the state-owned electricity transmission corporation, and his wife K Uma Devi.

Revolutionary balladeer Gaddar, writer Kalyan Rao and human rights activists met Home Minister K Jana Reddy and urged him to direct the police to immediately produce Sudhakar in court. They alleged he was arrested and tortured by police and could be eliminated any time.

"If Sudhakar is harmed, the government will be responsible for it," said Gaddar. Sudhakar was one of the three CPI-Maoist leaders who had participated in the first direct talks with the government in October 2004. He, along with two leaders, had come out of their hideouts in the jungle for talks with three ministers. The meetings, however, failed and the eight-month-long cease-fire collapsed in January last year.

(Patel Sudhakar Reddy (who also goes by alias Cheruvu Sudhakar Reddy and Srikanth), studied engineering in Mahbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh. Later, he studied LLB in Raichur in Karnataka. In 1985, while in Raichur, he headed the Pragatipada Vidyarthi Kendra, and even organised a state-level convention. He joined CPI(ML)Peoples War Group and became party’s state committee member of Andhra Pradesh.)

Photo by cpi-maoist-s4u.org, news- naxalrevolution