8 for 2,the Maoist wish-list

Abductors of the Malkangiri district collector and a junior engineer have demanded release of eight Maoists.

Shriramulu Srinivas,41
Chief of Revolutionary Writers Association,member of the Andhra-Orissa Border Special Zone Committee. Suspected to be involved in an attempt on the life of former AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in 2003. Arrested in Malkangiri in July 2007. Tried (and acquitted) in six cases in the last four years.

Ganti Prasadam,55
Close aide of top Maoist leader Ramakrishna alias RK. Central committee member,state president of Martyrs Friends and Relatives Committee,and political tutor to Naxals. Arrested by Koraput police in November 2010. Hails from Bobbili in Vizianagaram district,known as Bobbili hero. One of the six accused in the Aurangabad conspiracy of May 2005. Brother of Ganti Ramesh alias Rajanna,Srikakulam division secretary who was among 11 Naxals killed in Kopardung encounter in 1998.

Padma
Alias Sirisha alias Nirmala,Ramakrishnas wife. Carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh,arrested from forests of Koraput while allegedly trying to meet her Maoist son Prithvi in a conspiracy to blow up mobile towers and a bridge. In Koraput jail since November 2010. Maoists deny allegations against her; say she only runs an orphanage in Hyderabad.

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Buduni Munda
Alias Sobha alias Sheela-Budhini. Founding member and president of Nari Mukti Sangh,a Maoist front organisation that is active in four states. A tribal from Jharkhand,joined Marxist-Leninist movement in Bihar and built up a strong womens organisation of tribal,rural women. In Rourkela jail since September 2006.

Gananath Patra,71
Adviser of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh in Narayanpatna. Till arrest,had been fighting for tribal land rights in poverty-ridden southern Orissa for over two decades,persistently demanding implementation of Scheduled Area (Scheduled Tribe) Land Transfer Regulation of 1956 that prohibits transfer of land from a tribal to a non-tribal. Chased by police since November 2009 when,during a protest against bauxite mining from Deomali Hill,two tribals were killed in police firing at Narayanpatna police station. Arrested in Bhubaneswar,in Koraput jail since January 2010.

Motilal Soren,41
Alias Ashutosh. Born in Jharkhand,one of the 21 members of the CPI(Maoist) central committee as well and one of seven in the central military commission. Said to be involved in the conspiracies to murder VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati in Kandhamal in August 2008 and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandis son Anup in October 2007. Arrested in March 2009 from Rourkela,in Bhubaneswar jail since then.

Ishwari Anduluri
Padmas cousin,hails from Visakhapatnam,AP. Arrested by Koraput police along with Padma in November 2010. Was supposed to join as the central regional commander of Narayanpatna Dalam. In Koraput jail since November 2010.

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Tapan Mishra,42
Civil rights activist in Narayanpatna and leader of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh. Once a member of All India Democratic Students Organisation (student wing of SUCI) and president of Ravenshaw College Students Union. Later joined CPI(ML-Liberation) and was part of a movement with forest dwellers. Was councillor of Athamallik NAC in Dhenkanal district and also contested the last Assembly elections. Arrested in November 2009 when he was about to board a train to Narayanpatna from Parvatipuram. In Koraput jail.