After taking top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda on a 10-day remand on Saturday, police on Sunday began interrogating him at the office of the Brahmapur Superintendent of Police here.
At around 12.10 pm, Sabyasachi Panda’s wife Subhashree alias Mili Panda was allowed to identify the man arrested by the police as her husband. She went to the SP office where Sabyasachi was taken for interrogation and confirmed that he was her husband.
After coming out of the SP’s chamber, Mili urged senior police officials to arrange treatment for her husband, who, she stated, sustained serious injuries during his arrest. She said she had heard her husband telling the court that he had been showered with blows by the police during the arrest.
According to sources, the interrogation started at around 2 pm. The Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Court had on Saturday set five conditions while allowing the police to take Panda on remand, one of which is that either a kin or his lawyer or his friend must remain present during the interrogation as per the Supreme Court guidelines. So, Panda’s lawyer Deepak Patnaik was present during the interrogation.
Reliable sources said the investigating officers asked Panda about his childhood activities, educational qualifications and participation in socio-political events during his early years. The officials began interrogation process with light questions instead of going for complicated issues to start with, the sources said.
After an hour-long process of interrogation, the officials took lunch break before resuming the session. They asked Panda about his activities before entering into the Maoist movement, said the sources.