The woman held as a suspected Maoist after a brief car chase in Khammam, the district bordering Chhattisgarh, on Monday was injured in the ambush on Congress leaders on May 25 and was headed for Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh for treatment, according to police sources.

The arrested woman was identified as Mothubai, alias Radhika, a Darbha divisional committee member of the banned CPI(Maoist) and wife of CPI(Maoist) central committee member Pulluri Prasad Rao, alias Chandranna. Sources said suspicion about her involvement is heightened by the fact that the ambush took place at Darbha ghat in Chhattisgarh, and it is unlikely that Mothubai, as member of the divisional committee, was not aware of it.

The arrested woman, however, has told the police during interrogation that she has been ill for the last one week and Pruthviraj, a University of Hyderabad student arrested along with her, was accompanying her to Vijayawada to consult a doctor.

But the district police suspect Mothubai, arrested in Palavancha area of Khammam and a native of Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh, was headed for Vijayawada for treatment of injuries suffered from the Chhattisgarh ambush and are interrogating her on those lines.

Mothubai was found in the car (a Maruti Alto) with two others, identified as Pruthviraj and his father Dharma Rao, a railway employee. Both were arrested as well.

During interrogation, police sources said, Pruthviraj confessed that he had left the campus a few months ago and joined the Maoist ranks. The youth also claimed to be a member of the Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika while in the university.

Mothubai’s husband, Chandranna, is also in charge of north Telangana region of the banned ultra outfit, besides being a central committee member.