In a significant development on the Maoist (Naxal) front, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) chargesheeted as many as eight persons for supplying deadly explosives, drones and other equipments to the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) for attacking security forces in the Maoist infested areas of Bharat, informed NIA in a press release on December 1.
The accused chargesheeted by the federal agency are already in custody following their arrest under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Three of the eight accused working as the couriers for the banned outfit were apprehended while on their way to supply explosives, drones and a late machine, the others were nabbed subsequently.
The investigation by the federal agency has so far revealed that the explosive material recovered from the possession of three of the accused identified as Devanuri Mallikarjun Rao, Punem Nageshwar Rao and Vollepugla Umashankar were supplied to them by accused Jannu Koti, Arepalli Srikanth, Tallapalli Arogyam and Bontha Mahender. Later on it was revealed that the latter four had procured the explosives from one Sonaboina Kumaraswamy who held a license for dealing in explosives.
Further the investigation has revealed that the accused working as couriers for the banned outfit had purchased and transported a drilling machine to the extremists in March this year. They had also purchased a lathe machine and drone for the Ultras in May 2023 for spying on the combing parties of security personnel in the Maoist affected regions.
The accused persons had also received explosives materials from the co-accused to be supplied to the proscribed CPI (Maoist). The explosives are to be used in unleashing violent attacks on the security forces in the Maoist stronghold.
It has been further revealed that the cache of explosives recovered from the accused at the time of their arrest was intended for use in manufacturing of country-made arms to be deployed against the security forces in the Naxal infested areas. The case was initially registered by the Cherala police station in Telangana in June this year which was re-registered and taken over by the NIA in August this year.
It is to be noted that apart from speeding up the investigation against the Maoist operatives held so far in a number of cases of terror related activities, the federal Investigative agency has been conducting frequent raids on the possible hideouts of the underground and overground workers of the proscribed CPI Maoist across the country.
NIA Patna court held 3 guilty in 2012 CPI Maoist arms and ammunition seizure case
In another development related to the CPI Maoist, the NIA special court of Patna convicted as many as three accused in a 2012 arms and ammunition seizure case of Aurangabad, Bihar on December 1.
The court has found Udit Kumar Singh alias Tulsi alias Tufan, Akhilesh Singh aka Manoj Singh and Arjun Ji alias Mani Yadav guilty of being in possession of prohibited and non-prohibited arms and ammunition as well as chemicals for making IED (Improvised Explosive Device) and bombs for use in terror attacks by the banned CPI (Maoist).
The court held that the accused were active cadres of the banned outfit who were also found in possession of cash collected as levy money for carrying out terrorist activities. It’s been learnt that the quantum of punishment against all the accused will be pronounced December 4.
The case was earlier registered by the Aurangabad Town police after they had raided and arrested all the accused along with huge quantity of ammunition, prohibited arms, naxal literature, chemical substances and other incriminating documents from the possession of the accused in March 2012. Later on the NIA conducted further investigation into the case and subsequently filed another supplementary chargesheet after taking over the case in March 2013.
