What happened to rebel maoist Mohammed Nayeemuddin, who is accused in several high profile criminal cases, including the murder of IPS officer Vyas, is he dead? The police says it doesn't have any clue, but springs up his name whenever a high profile crime takes place.

As per the records, Nayeem was last seen on March 15, 2007, when he appeared before a local court in Hyderabad in connection with an IPS officer murder case. He tricked the entire police team at the court by escaping from there in the name of attending to the call of nature. Subsequently, Nayeem's name popped up during the police probe of several sensational crime cases, including surrendered Maoist Sambasivudu's murder at Nalgonda in March 2011 and the latest murder of gangster Patolla Goverdhan Reddy in the heart of the state capital on 27-12-2011.

Mujeeb Ahmed, city-based alleged Hijbul Mujahideen operative, who was convicted in an arms haul case, told the police that he brought an AK 47 rifle from Kashmir to pass it over to Nayeem, who is an accused in the same case. Nayeem is also suspected to have passed on information to the police about Sohrabuddin Sheikh who was later killed in an alleged encounter by the Gujarat cops. It is suspected that rogue outfits like Nallamala Cobras and Kakatiya Cobras, which claimed responsibility for the killing of several civil rights activists in 2005, were actually operated by Nayeem or his aides.

While the activities of Cobras have drastically come down recently, civil right groups maintain that these outfits are being run under the guidance of cops and that is the reason police are 'unaware' of Nayeem's whereabouts. While investigating agencies were quick to point fingers at Nayeem in these murders as they bore his trade mark modus operandi, none were able to concretely say anything about the whereabouts or present status of his operations. According to sources, Nayeem, hailing from Bhongir in Nalgonda, was involved in several land settlements in Hyderabad till a year ago.

According to some officials, Nayeem is still active and could be operating on a fake identity from two South East Asian countries with visits to Bangalore every now and then. However, an Intelligence department source said Nayeem suffered a paralytic stroke earlier this year and had undergone treatment in Kerala. A surrendered Maoist, who knew about Nayeem's operations, confirmed the Kerala visit but extended it a bit further by saying that, "Nayeem had undergone treatment in Kerala under the close watch of special teams of cops. But a month ago, we heard that he is no more."