Top Maoist leaders shifted to jail

VISAKHAPATNAM: Two top Maoist leaders were shifted to the central prison here after being produced before the magistrate at Narsipatnam. The Visakhapatnam police obtained the transit remand of Varanasi Subrahmanyam and Vijay Kumar Arya from a court in Katihar district in Bihar. They are facing charges in the Gunukurai conspiracy case which also names top Maoist leaders including Kobad Ghandy, Nalla Ravi Sarma and others.
The Maoist leaders were produced at the Narsipatnam magistrate's court late on Monday night. Police maintained secrecy because of security problems. Varanasi Subrahmanyam (58), who hails from Prakasam district and Vijay Kumar Arya of Gaya in Bihar were arrested by the central intelligence agencies and the AP SIB along with some other Maoist leaders and sympathizers in Katihar district of Bihar on April 29 last year.
The rebels had planned to wipe out a special party of 40 members of Greyhounds at Gunukurai in GK Veedhi mandal in May 2008. Their plot failed and the Maoist party lost four of its members. A Greyhounds cop died in the exchange of fire. Police registered cases against the top Maoist leaders, including Ganapati, for conspiring to eliminate the cops.
Subrahmanyam, who is a member of the central committee since a decade, was secretary of north regional bureau and in charge of international affairs following the arrest of Kobad Ghandy. Vijay Kumar Arya is the all-India in charge of the sub-committees of mass organizations. Both AP and Bihar had announced a reward of Rs 12 lakh for each of them. Subrahmanyam had maintained relations with various left wing students and people's organization during his stay in Visakhapatnam in the early 80s, sources said.