Slain Maoist leader Azad's wife arrested in Andhra

Hyderabad, June 10 (IANS) Police in Andhra Pradesh's Warangal district Sunday arrested slain Maoist leader Azad's wife Padma, alias Sitakka, and six other women Maoists.

Padma, leader of women's wing of Communist Party of India-Maoist, and others were arrested in Khanapuram village in Warangal district, about 250 km from here, when they were heading to attend a meeting of the banned outfit, police said.

Police produced all the arrested before a court in Warangal town.

Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, the second most important Maoist leader and a central committee member of the banned outfit, was gunned down by police in an alleged gunbattle in Adilabad district on July 2, 2010.

While police claimed that Azad was killed in a gun fight, Maoists and their sympathisers alleged that police arrested and then murdered him in cold blood.