K Padma, widow of slain top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad said she was disappointed by the averse judgment of a lower court and she will challenge it in the State High Court. She along with Babita, widow of a journalist Hemchandra, had filed a protest petition in Adilabad Court alleging their husbands were killed by the police in a fake encounter. First class magistrate, Mary Sara Danamma, dismissed both the petitions saying they lacked the merit. The matter was pending for the last one and a half years.
The controversy raged since CPI Maoist Politburo member Azad and journalist Hemchandra were killed on July 2, 2010 in Sarkapally forest area of Adilabad district. Wives of the two alleged that Azad and Hemchandra were picked up from a train near Nagpur and shot dead in cold blood. Noted activist Swami Agnivesh had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding a probe and on the direction of the apex court, CBI investigated the incident.