The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday conducted a series of raids and searches in Telangana and Chhattisgarh in connection with an August 2023 case involving recovery of explosive materials, drones and a Lathe machine involving the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) for use against security forces.
The NIA had registered the case against 12 accused after the explosive materials, drones and a Lathe machine were seized from three of them in the month of June in Cherla mandal of Kothagudem. The three accused were arrested by the local police working jointly with other security agencies. The cache was intended for use in manufacturing of countrymade arms, to be deployed against the security forces in India’s Naxal affected areas. The case was subsequently handed over to the NIA in view of its major inter-State security implications for the country.
As part of its continuing investigations in the Cherla drone case, as it has come to be known, the NIA raided eight locations in the two states of Telangana and Chhattisgarh. Searches at the premises of the accused at five places in Warangal and two in Bhadradri Kothagudam in Telangana, as well as one place in Bijapur, Chhatishgarh, led to the seizure of several digital devices and incriminating documents.
Detailed examination of these devices and documents is under way to unravel the accused’s involvement in extending logistic support to CPI (Maoist), a Left Wing extremist organisation involved in different kinds of unlawful activities with the stated aim of overthrowing the Indian government through a prolonged so-called ‘people’s war’. The accused were prima facie providing raw materials to the proscribed organisation to further its anti-India agenda. The CPI (Maoist) has, in recent times, started employing modern tools and technology to carry out its violent terrorist activities in various states.
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