“Dreaded” woman Naxal leader Vasanti alias Savita Pondu Potem (25), who headed national park dalam active in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, was arrested by security forces in neighbouring Maharashtra recently and currently reportedly undergoing treatment in police custody in the state, the police sources said on Tuesday.
Savita, who faced 62 criminal cases in Chhattisgarh and against whom 22 non-bailable warrants were issued by various police stations in the past one decade, had joined the Naxal cadre at the age of nine as a member of jan militia (armed unit of rebels) and later worked under many senior Naxal leaders in Bastar before being elevated to the rank of commander of national park dalam operating in rebel strongholds of Bhopalpatnam and Gangalur in Bijapur district in 2009.
Her husband Nabbu, who was a platoon commander, was killed in an encounter with security forces in 2008.
She was armed with a AK 47.
Intelligence reports said she had a strained relationship with Naxal leaders of Andhra Pradesh in recent times when she along with some Chhattisgarh-based rebel leaders demanded an equal share of booty mobilised by them in the state.
The tussle had led to many gun battles between the rival Naxal factions.
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8 killed as electric wire falls on bus
Fatehpur (UP), Oct. 23: At least eight persons were on Tuesday electrocuted and 25 others injured when a high tension electricity wire fell on a private bus in Jahanabad area of the district.
The wire snapped and fell on the bus while it was leaving Jahanabad bus station on Tuesday afternoon, the police said.
Hearing cries of the passengers local villagers reached the spot and rescued at least 12 of them by smashing windows and breaking doors of the bus, sources said.
The police have confirmed the death of eight persons. At least 25 people were injured in the incident and were admitted to different hospitals in Fatehpur, Bindki and Kanpur.
Around 50 passengers were travelling in the bus, sources said.
Senior officials, including district magistrate Kanchan Verma and superintendent of police Rajendra Singh reached the spot where rescue work was being carried out, sources said.
Alleging laxity on part of administration, local villagers blocked the road.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Laxmi Kant Bajpai, while expressing grief over the incident, demanded an ex-gratia to kin to passengers killed in the accident. — PTI