Bengaluru: The police custody of six Maoists, who surrendered before Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, ends on Thursday and they will be produced before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court.
The NIA court had remanded them to the custody of Chikkamagaluru Police for six days.
Sources revealed that the Kerala Police are likely to seek custody of the surrendered Maoists.
The Maoists were interrogated by Koppa Deputy SP Balaji Singh and his team.
Siddaramaiah on January 8 welcomed the surrendered Maoists to the mainstream by offering them roses and copies of the Constitution at his home office ‘Krishna’ in Bengaluru.
With the six Maoists laying down arms, the Congress-led government declared Karnataka as Left Wing Extremism-free state.
Mundagaru Latha from Mundagaru in Sringeri Vanajakshi from Balehole in Kalasa; Sundari from Kutluru near Mangaluru; Marappa Jayanna Aroli from Raichur; Vasantha T. aka Ramesh from Tamil Nadu, and N. Jeesha from Kerala surrendered in presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Addressing the media after the surrender of the Maoists, CM Siddaramaiah said: “To eliminate Naxalism in Karnataka and address their demands, we are committed to taking all necessary measures within the legal framework.”
“There is no room in democracy or the Constitution for achieving justice through armed struggle,” CM Siddaramaiah underlined.
According to sources, Mandagaru Latha, the eldest daughter of a poor tribal family from Sringeri Taluk, in 2000, at the age of 18, took up armed resistance. Since then, she has been part of a guerrilla group operating across Karnataka and Kerala. Her family allegedly faced the threat of losing their home under the Kudremukh National Park Project.
Sundari is also a tribal woman who grew up in poverty. In 2004, at the age of 19, she joined the Maoist party and became part of a guerrilla group operating in Karnataka and Kerala.
Vanajakshi, the senior-most member of the group, served as an unopposed member of the Gram Panchayat in 1992 and 1997. Influenced by the “armed movements” of the time, she decided in 2000 that it was the only path. Since then, she has been part of a guerrilla group operating across Karnataka and Kerala.
Jayanna Aaroli, a Dalit youth from Aaroli village in Manvi Taluk of Raichur district, holds a Bachelor’s degree.
Vasantha, a B.Tech graduate from Arcot in Vellore district, Tamil Nadu, was influenced towards Maoism.
Jisha, an Adivasi woman from Makkimala in Wayanad district, Kerala, studied up to the 8th grade before becoming part of the “armed struggle” in Kerala in 2018. In 2023, Jeesha moved from Kerala to Karnataka along with other members of the group, sources stated.
(IANS)
