Odisha Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s life is under threat from both police and the rebels, his wife said Saturday, a day after her husband was expelled by the outlawed group.
“His life is under threat. Both the Maoists and police want to kill him,” Subhashree Das alias Mili Panda told reporters here.
Sabyasachi carries a reward of about Rs.20 lakh on his arrest and is wanted to stand trial in several cases. He is alleged to be the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Italian tour operator Paulo Bosusco and tourist Claudio Colangelo last year and also one of the prime accused in the August 2008 killing of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati in Kandhamal.
Panda, was in charge of the outfit’s Odisha state committee, was termed a ‘renegade’ by CPI(Maoist) central committee which also said ”In the most abominable, crooked and conspiratorial manner, he betrayed the party revolution and the great cause of the toiling masses.”
The CPI(Maoist) statement was signed by its politburo member Katakam Sudarshan (alias Anand). It said Panda’s 16-page letter to the outfit’s general secretary Ganapathy and released to the media recently, had ”the evil intention of liquidating the party and the revolutionary movement.”