Maoist Leader Hosagadda Prabha escapes from Karnataka Cops Net

BANGALORE: A Naxal leader, wanted in a number of cases, gave the police a slip after getting treated at a private city hospital.

A senior police officer told Express that Hosagadde Prabha is "still alive and nothing has happened to her during the treatment".

Her Naxal comrades led the police to believe that Prabha had died in the hospital due to dengue fever on August 18. The police thought that the cadres had somehow removed the body from the hospital and cremated it in an unknown location. Even a section of the media fell for that story.

The police officer admitted that the intelligencegathering system, believing in her 'death', could not trace her movement. Thus, the police had failed to arrest her while she was undergoing treatment.

But that was just a cookedup story. "She was admitted as Susheela for treatment and getting better, she vanished from the hospital giving the police the slip," he said.

Sources said Prabha escaped just a day before police got wind of her presence in Bangalore.

Prabha has been an active Naxal leader in the Western Ghats area for more than 10 years.

The state police has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for her arrest. "We don't have sufficient evidence to prove whether she is dead of alive. So, I cannot comment on this issue," said A R Infant, ADGP (Law and Order).

There are 26 cases registered against her at Sringeri, Aldur, Balehonnur and Jayapura police stations.

Prabha, also known as Netra, Vindhu, Sandhya and Madhu, belongs to Hosagadde village of Thirthahalli in Shimoga, and is the wife of B G Krishnamurthy, the frontline cadre of Naxals in the state.

"The Shimoga police did not have any evidence of her death but believed that she was dead," said a police officer.

About Prabha Prabha, a Bunt, married Krishnamurthy, after they went underground following their close association with the Naxal leader Saket Rajan, who was gunned down in a police encounter in February 2005. She has been active as a naxal leader in Western Ghat area for more that 10 years. She joined 'Mahila Jagruthi' a voluntary organisation, and fought for women's empowerment. Prabha also took part in various people's movements such as 'Tunga Ulusi' (Save River Tunga) and the Kudremukh agitation by the indigenous Adivasis. A firebrand, she joined the Red Brigade after she met Saket and Krishnamurthy. The state police already had announced Rs 5 lakh reward for her arrest. A total of 26 cases were registered against Prabha at Shringeri, Aldur, Balehonnur and Jayapura police stations. She is accused in the Gandaghatta Venkatesh murder, Thanikodu checkpost destruction, vandalising Kerekatte Forest Office and Matholli blast.