Woman Maoist from K’taka held near Coimbatore

Acting on a tip off, a team of Q branch sleuths intercepted a TNSTC bus bound to Coimbatore from Kerala near Anaikatti at the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border around 5.30am.

After a check, police picked up Srimathi, 27, a native of Sringeri in Chikkamangaluru district of Karnataka from the bus. She was associated with Kabani and Bhavani Dalams of CPI (Maoist) in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The police also picked up another woman accompanying Srimathi in the bus, but her identity is yet to be known as police remained tightlipped on their detention.

Sources said that Srimathi escaped, when Kerala’s anti Naxal squad Thunderbolt cracked down on the extremists killing four of them in a shootout near Attapadi in Palakkad on October 28 last year.

Following intelligence reports that some of the injured Maoists may undergo treatment in the border districts of Coimbatore and the Nilgiris, intensive search was carried out then, but couldn’t be nabbed.

After taking Srimathi into custody, the police intensified checks in few tribal villages and forest areas in search of any other extremists. Police have also asked people in tribal villages to inform them if they find any movement of suspicious persons. The two women were taken to the Q branch office in Coimbatore for further inquiries.

In May 2015, the Q branch sleuths of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh swooped down on the five Maoists, R Roopesh alias Praveen, his wife R Shyna J Anup, C Veeramani alias Easwaran, and C Kannan at a tea shop near Karumathampatty in Coimbatore.