Chennai: The Tamil Nadu police on Thursday arrested three top women Maoists in two different parts of the state. All the arrested were said to be senior activists and state level office bearers of the banned Maoist outfit. The police arrested Reena Joecy Mary (36), wife of Kannan, a naxalite who is now in jail, from Manimangalam area in Kancheepuram district near Chennai. The other two are Kala alias Janaki (52), wife of Manivasagam who is believed to be operating in the southern states’ tri-junction forest areas and Chandra (50), wife Sundaramoorrthy, a top Maoist leader now lodged in Puzhal jail.
Reena was staying near Erumayur near Manimangalam as a stone quarry worker. A Q branch team posing as quarry workers and suppliers had reportedly monitored her for more than a week before picking her up on Thursday evening. The arrested were allegedly involved in actively mobilising people towards extreme left ideology. Before ‘his arrest, Kannan and his wife had travelled across the State borders and in tribal villages of Tamil Nadu attempting to introduce youngsters to the Maoist ideology. The Madurai couple of Kannan and Reena had been at Uthankarai when police busted their training camp 2002.
It is not clear if Reena was trying spread the ideology among stone quarry workers in Kancheepuram. The three arrested women reportedly used to visit tribal areas on TN-Kerala border at least once in a month, which had exposed them and sleuths started monitoring their activities closely. All the three were carrying a reward of Rs.2 lakh. The three persons picked up by the Q team were being questioned by police officials till late in the evening at Kancheepuram and Karur of offices of the Q branch, the wing specialising in dealing with extremism in the State.
