Bhubaneswar, July 1: The state government heaved a sigh of relief while the Maoists celebrated as top rebel leader Ghanti Prasad walked free following withdrawal of the case against him by a court in Koraput district.

Sources said the district and sessions judge, Jeypore, accepted the state’s plea for withdrawal of the case against Prasad in the Semiliguda police station of Koraput.

The case was filed last November when Prasad, who also has several cases against him in Andhra Pradesh, was arrested along with four others while on their way to Narayanpatna to meet Maoist commander Rama Krishna.

The release of Prasad, who had played a major role in the release of former Malkangiri collector R. Vineel Krishna, abducted by the Maoists in February, came 24 hours after the deadline set for the government to meet its commitments in this regard.

The SDJM court, Koraput, had yesterday rejected the application filed by the state government for Prasad’s release citing technical reasons. The court held that the public prosecutor, who had moved the application, did not have the authority to do so as he was not conducting the case.

The judge had referred the case to the district and sessions court, Jeypore, with relevant documents.

The release of five Maoists, including Prasad, was part of the agreement reached between the government and the Maoist-chosen interlocutors to seek the release of Krishna. Though four others accused in the Semiliguda case had been released on June 21 after charges against them were dropped, the fate of Prasad had been hanging in balance.

However, having met its promise of releasing Prasad and four other Maoists in the Semiliguda case, the government is now likely to step up its campaign against the rebels throughout the state. The police have laid the ground for intensifying operation against the rebels by extracting valuable information from one of their surrendered colleagues in Malkangiri.

Sources said Malkangiri police interrogated Kalikela Balraju alias Bhagat, a key member of the Andhra-Orissa border special zonal committee of the CPI (Maoist), for two days eliciting a mine of information about the organisational activities of the Maoists. The police had brought Bhagat, who surrendered in Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district in February, with the consent of their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh.

“He revealed, among other things, that the morale in the top hierarchy of the rebels was running low following dissensions. The leaders in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh were not happy with the trigger-happy ways of the leadership in Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand. The differences had widened as rebels in these states were working under a unified command,” said Malkangiri inspector-in-charge, Ramkrishna Pati.