RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh high court on Thursday ordered Bastar police to produce ‘surrendered’ Maoist Podiyam Panda next Monday, even as the cops maintain that he is free to appear in the court.The court is hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Panda’s wife Muiyye, who alleges that police detained him illegally and did not allow her to meet him in custody.While police say Panda surrendered on May 9 after 20 years as a Maoist, rights activists allege that police forcibly detained him, beat him and “pushed him to surrender” though he had helped cops in the past.On Thursday, while ordering the state to bring Panda to court, the HC remarked, “Let him say in front of the court that he wasn’t coerced to surrender.” Moreover, the court asked, if police maintain that Panda was free to go anywhere he wanted, why wasn’t he allowed to meet his wife?The state argued that there was no coercion by police. Rather it was Muiyye, sarpanch of Chintagufa village in Sukma , who was asked to persuade Panda to surrender, the state counsel said, adding that she did and Panda gave himself up.Muiyye denies this, saying: “My husband hasn’t ‘surrendered’, nor does he have any link with Maoists.” Her lawyer Isha Khandelwal, an activist, told TOI, “Muiyye filed a habeas corpus petition in Chhattisgarh high court when she was denied permission to meet Panda and the police refused to reveal anything about his location.”Khandelwal said Muiyye has been sarpanch for 15 years, and neither she nor her husband have anything to do with Maoists. Rather, Panda has helped police by mediating in the release of abducted Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon in 2012, facilitated the construction of a helipad and was in touch with police, Khandelwal said. He is a social worker and a member of Communist Party of India, she said, adding that Maoists had in fact called a ‘jan adalat’ against Panda.Police, however, claim Panda was sarpanch of Chintagufa when he joined the Maoists in 1997. At a press conference in Jagdalpur on Wednesday, Panda had spoken about his role in the Burkapal ambush of April 24 that killed 25 CRPF jawans. Muiyye says he wasn’t involved in the attack and gave the “confession” under duress. “He was with me when the Burkapal incident took place,” Muiyye said.She alleges that police picked him up from their village on May 3 and she never saw him after that. “I went to the police station with clothes for him, which the police accepted but didn’t let me meet him.”Muiyye went public on Wednesday, alleging that security forces had kept Panda at an undisclosed location for more than 10 days and forced him to sign some papers. She and Panda's brother Komal were allegedly pressured by police to withdraw the habeas corpus petition, too, she says.Panda had called her on May 13, telling her that he had surrendered and asked her to return to Chintagufa. His wife alleges he said so under pressure from police.However, Panda has given a statement to media that he asked his wife to return but she refused because there were “women lawyers who weren't allowing her to go”.Panda is accused by police in 19 incidents of Maoist violence, including the Burkapal attack, abduction of Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon in 2012, and the massacre of 76 CRPF men at Tadmetla in 2010.