Berhampur, July 21: Police have approached the district court, challenging the ruling of the Berhampur sub-divisional judicial magistrate to allow Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s wife Mili, relatives or his advocate to be present during his interrogation.

Public prosecutor Janeswar Mishra has appealed against the ruling of the court of the Berhampur sub-divisional judicial magistrate.

“Sabyasachi is not an ordinary criminal. Most of the cases registered against him are criminal conspiracy and waging war against the state. The presence of others during the interrogation compromises secrecy of the nation and subsequently goes against the state. We have appealed in the district court challenging the earlier ruling of the SDJM court,” said assistant public prosecutor Pradip Behera.

Panda’s advocate Deepak Patnaik said: “I will definitely approach Orissa High Court. A judgment of the Supreme Court in 2006 had clearly stated that the police could take any accused on remand on certain conditions. During the period of interrogation, the family members or the lawyer of the accused must be present and the law must prevail.”

Sources said the police wanted to know Panda’s involvement in the Nayagarh armoury attack and find put whether all the weapons looted during the attack were handed over to the Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Maoist cadres or if a part of the arms cache was still hidden somewhere else.

“We also want to know about his political links and his sources of income. It is not possible to interrogate him in presence of his family members,” said a senior cop.

In yet another development, the Justice A.S. Naidu Commission today said it would interrogate Panda in connection with the Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati murder case.

“As Panda has admitted that the Maoists had killed Saraswati, we will certainly interrogate him to know about his role in the case,” said an official of the Naidu commission.

The rebels killed the VHP leader on August 23, 2008.