Maoist Srimathi remanded in judicial custody till March 26

The ‘Q’ branch sleuths had arrested her in a pre-dawn operation near Anaikatty on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday. Acting on intelligence inputs that Srimathi, wanted in several cases, is heading to Kerala from Karnataka through Coimbatore by bus, the police intercepted the bus near Mangarai check-post and took her into custody.

The Q branch police took her to a secret place for interrogation and confirmed that she was travelling alone and wasn’t accompanied by any other woman in the bus.

After inquiry, Srimathi was produced before Principal District and Sessions Court Judge R Sakthivel around afternoon amid tight police security. The judge remanded her in judicial custody till March 26 and she was taken to be lodged in Coimbatore Central Prison.

The Kerala police are likely to file a petition in the court seeking custody of the Maoist to interrogate her in connection with some cases in their state.  A native of Sringeri in Chikkamangaluru district of Karnataka, Srimathi has been associated with Kabani and Bhavani Dalams of the CPI (Maoist) in Kerala, Tamil Nadu andKarnataka.  

It is learnt 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.