[1]Tamil Nadu police has launched an all-out hunt for Maoists with one team rushing to Andhra Pradesh to hunt for Padma, the wife of Vivek, a Maoist leader who was arrested in Chennai on Saturday while another team has gone to Karnataka to search for one Moorthy, who is believed to be in charge of Maoist operations in the south west region of the state.
The Q branch police, which deals with cases of terrorism and extremism, had on Saturday arrested Vivek, 45, the state secretary of Maoist outfit in the city.
Vivek had escaped from the arms training camp at Periyakulam in 2007 when the police raided it. Since then police have been on the lookout for him.
“We came to know that Vivek and Moorthy had been co-coordinating arms training for cadres from Tamil Nadu at Dharmasthala in Karanataka. The Karnataka police had raided a camp there and had seized handbills printed in Tamil,” police sources said here. The police will seek the custody of Vivek for detailed interrogation.
Q branch sleuths had picked up Vivek, a diploma holder in civil engineering and a resident of Royapettah, from a marriage hall in Shenoy Nagar. Sources said that Padma, a native of Andhra Pradesh, was there at the marriage hall when police team picked up Vivek but she managed to escape.
Vivek was produced in court in Theni on Sunday and remanded to judicial custody. He shouted slogans against the police when he was whisked away to jail.
Padma is also believed to be an expert with guns and was trained by Maoists a few years ago. She is also a diploma holder, police sources said.
Police believe that Vivek had shifted his base to Karnataka and had returned to Tamil Nadu probably to expand the Maoist base in Tamil Nadu.
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