Bhubaneswar, March 29: Top Maoist leader Srinivas Sriramulu’s wife Bimla was arrested yesterday from Andhra Pradesh.

Sources said Bimla, who was travelling with Srinivas in the same vehicle when he was arrested on March 23 on his way from Malkangiri to Andhra Pradesh, had fled.

Bimla, a rebel like her husband, was a Maoist central committee member. She used to operate mainly in Malkangiri and parts of Andhra Pradesh.

She was the area commander of the Malkangiri-Balimela committee and involved in several violent incidents.

Bimla, according to the police, played a major role in the killing of 38 greyhound (an elite anti-Maoist force) jawans of Andhra Pradesh police in the Balimela reservoir of Malkangiri in 2008. The jawans were returning after a combing operation on the Andhra-Malkangiri border when the Maoists started shooting at them from the Alampekka hills.

The jawans were caught defenceless midstream in a reservoir.

Sources said Bimla was also involved in blowing up an anti-landmine vehicle of the police in Malkangiri. Half a dozen policemen were killed in the incident.

Bimla used to evade arrest by crossing the border and entering Andhra.