Writer and Maoist sympathiser Vara Vara Rao on Thursday claimed that top Maoist leader Ramakrishna alias RK was safe.

RK, was missing ever since the major encounter between security forces and Maoists in Odisha's Malkangiri.

Rao has now alleged that the police was torturing tribals.

Talking to the media, Rao said “I demand police to stop hunting for RK and torturing tribals to know his whereabouts. I demand the police to stop combing for RK and other Maoists.”

News about RK's safety came on the same day that the Andhra Pradesh Police told the Hyderabad High Court that they did not have him in custody.

The court was hearing a Habeas Corpus plea by RK's wife, who alleged that the state had detained her husband and planned to kill him.

"It is respectfully submitted that the husband of the petitioner by name G. RamaKrishna is not in the custody of the respondents. In fact, the records reveal that the husband of the petitioner is a member of the CPI (Maoist), which is a banned organization, and there are around 40 cases registered against the petitioner's husband at various police stations in Andhra Pradesh," the police told the court in its counter petition.

While the police claimed that Ramakrishna had managed to escape, many activists had alleged that he was in police custody, as none of the cadres had heard from him since the encounter.

Speaking on the latest development to The New Indian Express, Vara Vara Rao said, "RK is safe. We have clear information in this regard...It was a brutal act on the part of police to kill innocent Adivasis by branding them Maoist informers. A combing operation is still going on in Malkangiri and other parts of AOB. This must be stopped by the police."

The police has hit back at Rao, and demanded that he divulge information on the wanted Maoist.