Dinesh Sharma, the Maoist leader who has been in police custody for some time now, is alive, says a home ministry source. The Maoists have been demanding that the government declare his whereabouts. Another Maoist leader, Matrika Yadav, is in police custody too but the whereabouts of the wife of Dinesh Sharma, Kamala, and others like Milan Nepali, Dandapadhi is still not known. It has been assumed that they were killed when Govind Raj Joshi was home minister. The rebels have always demanded that Dinesh Sharma be released. Sharma, who was earlier the chief of the Trade Union Federation, is now a member of the central committee of the CPN (Maoist). People feel that the capture of Sharma and Yadav has not affected the activities of the Maoists in any way. Political analysts have felt that if the release of the two is going to bring the Maoists to the negotiating table and stop the massacres taking place now, then it would make sense to release them immediately.