National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths have raided over a dozen locations in Bihar and Chhattisgarh in connection with two separate cases linked to outlawed Maoist outfit. The raids were conducted at multiple locations linked to nine suspected Over Ground Workers (OGWs) in Gariyaband districts of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, August 31,. This comes hours after the officials of the agency raided seven locations in multiple districts of Bihar.
In the raids conducted in Bihar, the agency’s officials seized a host of incriminating documents, digital devices alongside seizing live ammunition. The raids were conducted on Friday, August 30 under which extensive searches were carried out at five locations of Kaimur and two in Rohtas district.
The case pertains to the revival of Maoist organisation in Rohtas and adjacent areas which led to the arrest of two key CPI (Maoist) members namely Vijay Arya and Umesh Chaudhary who were picked up by the police from Rohtas district in April 2022. Pamphlets linked to the banned outfit, digital devices and levy receipts were seized from the possession of Vijay Arya, a member of the Central Committee of the outlaws at the time of his arrest.
The initial investigation done by the police into the case unveiled disturbing details about the presence of other Maoist cadres in the vicinity who were found working in close coordination to revive the Maoist outfit activities in the region. The case was later re-registered by the NIA on April 26, 2022 (RC-19/2022/NIA/DLI).
Other than Arya and Chaudhary the agency has also charge-sheeted Anil Yadav alias Anil Vyas, Rajesh Kumar Gupta, both members of the banned outfit along with Jharkhand based journalist, Rupesh Kumar Singh who according to the NIA’s investigation was allegedly active as a Special Area Committee (SAC) member of the CPI (Maoist).
NIA Seizes Live Ammunition & Incriminating Materials in Bihar Searches in CPI (Maoist) Case pic.twitter.com/vWOALa7gTu
— NIA India (@NIA_India) August 31, 2024
The NIA’s investigation into the case had further revealed that Singh who was critical of the security forces in his articles had also held the editorial position at a magazine namely “Laal Chingari”, a publication by the CPI (Maoist).
According to the findings of the premiere agency, Singh himself supplied copies of the said magazine to the top commanders of the banned outfit spanning across various states. NIA has further alleged that Singh had also played a crucial part in motivating the cadres of the proscribed outfit to consolidate supporters under the banner of the CPI (Maoist) with an intent to wage war against the government of India.
Multiple location raided in Chhattisgarh’s Gariyaband district
In a related development, the agency’s officials have carried out searches as part of their investigation in the Chhattisgarh assembly polls Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast case. NIA team conducted searches at premise linked with nine suspects in the Maoist infested sensitive areas of the remote Chhotegobra village under Mainpur police station on Saturday, August 31, informed the agency in an official release.
Several digital devices, mobile phones were seized during the operation conducted in connection with an IED blast carried out by the outlaws during state assembly polls last year resulting in death of a head constable of Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) on November 17.
NIA Conducts Searches in Chhattisgarh Assembly Poll IED Blast Case pic.twitter.com/DqSSzsH2gH
— NIA India (@NIA_India) August 31, 2024
It must be noted that the agency officials had also carried out a similar search operation in the Chhotegobra village in June this year leading to recovery of Rs 298000 in cash alongside mobile phones of suspected individuals believed to be working as Over Ground Workers (OGWs)/supporters of the banned Maoist outfit.
One held after search operations in multiple states
Notably, separate teams of the agency conducted simultaneous raids at various locations of multiple states on Friday in connection with a case linked to revival of the Maoist outfit’s Northern Regional Bureau (NRB) which encompasses the states of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.
Nine Premises linked to suspected OGWs/sympathisers/supporters were raided as part of the NIA’s effort to scuttle a plot to revive the NRB of the Maoist outfit. The raids resulted in seizure of various digital devices including laptops, mobile phones, pen drives, hard drives, compact discs, pocket diaries and more from the possession of the suspects alleged to be receiving funds to propagate the Maoist ideology.
Other than the recovery, the NIA team has also apprehended an accused identified as Ajay Singhal alias Aman, a resident of Sonipat district of Haryana currently residing in SAS Nagar, Punjab. According to the NIA, the nabbed individual was in charge of the state organising committee of the CPI (Maoist) in Haryana who was actively involved into attempts being made to revive the NRB.
Singhal was reported to be a frequent visitor to Bihar and Jharkhand with an aim to collect funds from now arrested Central Committee member, Pramod Mishra alias Vanbihari and Sandeep Yadav, commander/secretary of Bihar Jharkhand Special Area Committee of the outlawed Maoist outfit.
It is worth mentioning here that of late the premier investigative agency has intensified its operations into cases pertaining to the Maoist outfit, resulting in unveiling of various schemes of the dreaded outfit to revive itself along arrest of a number of its top cadres.
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