Bhubaneswar: Surrendered Maoist Dunna Kesava Rao aka Azad, lodged in Jharpada special jail in Bhubaneswar, launched an indefinite hunger strike on Wednesday demanding speedy trial in cases against him.
The 52-year-old has been in the jail here since June 1, 2011, almost a fortnight after he surrendered before Andhra Pradesh police, which was seen as a body blow to the Maoist organisation in Odisha. He was the senior most member of the Odisha State Organising Committee after secretary Sabyasachi Panda.
According to jail sources, Azad has refused to have food since morning protesting against non-compliance of the Supreme Court order to expedite his trials. “He previously approached the Supreme Court, seeking directives for the Odisha and Andhra Pradesh police to expedite his trials. He claimed that despite SC’s orders to hasten the process, there has been no compliance,” the TOI reported, quoting superintendent of the special jail Sarbeswar Behera.
He had launched a similar protest for 22 days in March 2016 in the same prison and also had to be hospitalised.
Azad is the prime accused in the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati and separate attacks on Nayagarh police armoury and R Udaygiri jail in 2006. He also has a murder case against him at Tumudibandha police station. He has so far been acquitted in 10 of the total 43 cases, the sources added.
His indefinite strike has come a day when senior CPI (Maoist) leader Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Bhupati, and 60 other cadres surrendered in Maharashtra with number of Left-Wing Extremism-affected (LWE) districts now down to 11 from 18 earlier this year.
The number of “most-affected” districts too has fallen from six to three, with only Bijapur, Sukma, and Narayanpur districts of Chhattisgarh under this category, according to the Union Home Ministry.
