People from various walks of life paid their last respects to former Maoist leader Kursenga Mothibai alias Radhakka, 55, whose final rites were held at Linguguda village in Adilabad district on Tuesday. She died of a heart attack at a hospital in Adilabad on Monday evening.

A native of Pippaldhari village in Adilabad Rural mandal, Radhakka joined the then-banned CPI (ML) People’s War Group (PWG) in the mid-1980s. She later worked underground with PWG squads in Sirpur and other forest areas before being shifted to the Dandakaranya forest region in the late 1990s. She emerged as one of the key leaders of the Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh and rose to become a State committee member of the CPI (Maoist).

Police reportedly arrested her near Palvancha in 2017 while she was travelling to Khammam for medical treatment. She remained in jail for a few years before being released after being acquitted in the cases pending against her, sources said.

Radhakka had been ailing for the past few weeks. Leaders of Adivasi and other mass organisations, besides several former Maoist leaders, including former Central Committee member Pulluri Prasad Rao alias Chandranna, attended her funeral.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad district Congress committee president Athram Suguna was among those who paid their last respects.