Aparna Marandi and her son Alok Chandra at XISS in Ranchi on Sunday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, July 10: The wife of a Maoist, who was recently sentenced to death for killing 20 people, including a son of former chief minister Babulal Marandi in 2007, today held a closed-door meeting with rights activists and promised to knock at the high court’s doors to exonerate her husband.

Speaking to The Telegraph on the premises of Xavier Institute of Social Services (XISS) this afternoon, Aparna Marandi said her husband Jeetan Marandi, who along with three others were awarded death sentences in Giridih, was innocent.

“My husband is a cultural activist. The police arrested him on April 15, 2008, from Ratu Road in Ranchi and the court held him guilty last month. I want to make it clear that my husband is not a Maoist. He is a simple artist who writes and sings songs about the problems of the poor people and tribals,” she said.

Aparna said she was passing sleepless nights after Giridih’s additional district and sessions judge Indradeo Mishra sentenced the four to death on June 23. The other accused who were given the sentence included Anil Ram, Manoj Rajwar and Chhatrapati Mandal, convicted after a three-and-a-half-year long trial in which as many as 30 eye-witnesses, including 10 injured in the 2007 firing, were cross-examined.

On October 26, 2007, Maoists opened fire on a group of people who had gathered at Chilkhari under Deori police station in Giridih district for a football match and a cultural function. The 20 victims included Babulal Marandi’s son, Anup (22).

Defending her husband, Aparna said, “The day when the Chilkhari incident took place, he (Jeetan) was busy shooting a documentary film at Madhuban under Peertand police station in Giridih. My husband informed this to police officers but no one paid attention to his statement and ensured his conviction after a long trial.”

She added: “Now, I will fight for my husband. I will knock at the doors of the high court for justice and also launch a campaign to bring the truth before the public.”

As she voiced her woes, the couple’s two-and-half-year-old son, Alok Chandra Marandi, was busy playing with a toy car. “Everyday, I get frightened imagining life without my husband, whom I married in 2001. I used to earn money by working at a stone crushing unit, but after the court sentenced my innocent husband, I do not have the strength or resolve to work and earn a livelihood anymore,” she added.

Aparna said other members of the family, her mother-in-law, Barki Devi, unmarried sister-in-law, Savita Devi, and two brothers-in-law, Shahdeo and Raghunath Marandi, were also left in the dark.

She later met human rights activists associated with People’s Union of Civil Liberties, Vishthapan Virodhi Morcha, Jharkhand Bachao Andolan and several others at XISS.

Interestingly, Babulal Marandi had asked the government to grant pardon to the four Maoists after they were served death sentence.