Representative Image of the CPI Maoist and NIA
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has chargesheeted two more accused in connection with the Communist Party of India Maoist (CPI Maoist) plot to revive Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in Magadh Zone of Bihar, informed the agency via a tweet on Sunday, March 3.
The investigative agency has filed a supplementary chargesheet against Pramod Mishra aka Sohan Da, aka Doctor Saab aka Vanvihari aka Janardan aka Baba Ji, a key polit-bureau member of the banned outfit and a resident of Aurangabad district of Bihar. The second accused named in the chargesheet has been identified as Anil Yadav aka Ankush aka Lavkush, a resident of Gaya district of Bihar.
According to the details shared by the agency, the key accused, Pramod Mishra, has been charged under sections 120 (B), 121A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 17,18, 18 (B), 20, 38, and 40 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) while similar sections of IPC and UAPA barring 18 (B) have also been slapped against Mishra’s associate, Anil Yadav.
Notably, both accused have pending cases against them under various sections of IPC, the Arms Act, Explosive Substance Act and UAPA. According to information shared by the NIA, Mishra has a total of 41 cases pending against him under various police stations in Bihar, while he also has cases registered against him in the neighbouring Jharkhand, where a total of 6 cases against him are pending.
Most of the cases registered against Mishra are in Aurangabad and Gaya districts of Bihar where as many as six cases have also been pending against his associate Anil Yadav, according to the investigative agency via its press note.
Conspiracy to revive Maoist activities in Magadh Zone
The NIA initiated its investigation into the case in September last year, which led to the revelation that the accused named in the supplementary chargesheet, along with other accused identified as Rohit Rai, an active cadre of the banned Maoist outfit holding the rank of sub-zonal commander, and Pramod Yadav, conducted a meeting in the Mahi village of Aurangabad in June last year.
According to the investigation, the said meeting was organised with the aim of reviving the Maoist organisation in the Magadh zone through the means of levy collection from contractors, prominent business establishments, and toll plazas.
The NIA’s investigation has further revealed that all three other accused were taking instructions from politbureau member Mishra, who had been directly involved in organising meetings of the active cadres while actively promoting and propagating the Maoist ideology.
The investigation into the case has also disclosed that the accused in the case were actively involved in recruitment of CPI cadres to carry out illegal and violent acts to further their unlawful and nefarious designs and plans.
Notably, earlier this year, the NIA filed another chargesheet in the case against the accused Rohit Rai and Pramod Yadav in the first week of February. In the chargesheet filed by the NIA, the agency claimed that Rohit alias Prakash alias Patrakar alias Manoj, a resident of Kaimur district of Bihar, is a sub-zoanal commander of the CPI Maoist.
Rai, along with the other accused, Pramod Yadav, a resident of Aurangabad district, was actively involved in reviving the Maoist outfit in the region by recruiting vulnerable youths in the outfit and raising funds through levy collection. Both the accused named in the chargesheet had been charged with various sections of the IPC, Arms Act, and UAPA.
Arrest of the accused
It is noteworthy that two of the accused, Rohit Rai and his associate Pramod Yadav, were arrested by a joint team of Special Task Force (STF) and Aurangabad police from the outskirts of Pema village under Goh police station limits in Aurangabad in August last year.
The accused were arrested after receiving reliable input provided by one of their companions, who was nabbed during a vehicle checking exercise. The joint team at the time of arrest had also seized 2 country made pistols, cartridges, along with extremist literature, from the possession of the accused.
Significantly, days after the arrest of Rai, the Bihar police, in another significant operation, arrested politbureau member Pramod Mishra along with his accomplice Anil Yadav from the Tikari sub division of insurgency affected Gaya district.
Mishra’s arrests revealed that he was working as the bureau chief of the Eastern Regional Bureau of the outlawed CPI Maoists and was assigned the task of reviving the Maoist insurgency in the Bihar and Jharkhand regions.
Notably, Pramod Mishra, one of the top brass of the extremists, joined the left-wing insurgency in the 1990s and rose to the ranks in the erstwhile Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), a far left extremist group that indulged in wide scale violence mainly in undivided Bihar. After the merger of the group with the People’s War Group to form the current structure of CPI Maoist in 2004, Mishra was promoted as a central committee member of the newly formed Maoist outfit.
Magadh Zone revival terror financing conspiracy
It is to be noted that the NIA has also been investigating a case pertaining to a terror financing conspiracy in connection to the Magadh Zone insurgency revival plot, According to the details of the NIA’s investigation, so far the agency has filed as many as three separate chargesheets into the case against as many as five of the accused, including the Central Committee Member (CCM) of the CPI Maoist, Vijay Arya aka Dilip.
The other accused named by the agency in the case have been identified as Tarun Kumar, Pradyuman Sharma, Abhinav, and Anandi Paswan, who have been arrested and chargedsheeted by the agency for collecting funds for procurement of arms and ammunition alongside recruitment of new cadres in liaison with the incarcerated Naxals and Over Ground Workers (OWG) lodged in various jails.
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