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ATS gets 10-day custody of three Naxalites caught from Ballia
The court has also directed the agency not to harass the accused and to conduct their regular medical examination.
Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) on Friday got the 10-day custody remand of the three alleged Naxals who were arrested in Ballia a few days ago.
Among the three was a father-daughter duo who would be interrogated about their ‘plan’ to reestablish and extend the Naxal movement in the state by carrying out fresh recruitments.
After the arrests on Tuesday, a special court has granted the custody of Lallu Ram, his daughter Tara Devi and Ram Moorat Rajbhar to the ATS for 10 days, a senior ATS official said. Along with the trio, their accomplices Satya Prakash Verma and Vinod Sahani were also arrested.
The court has also directed the agency not to harass the accused and to conduct their regular medical examination.
The official said the ATS had informed the court that Lallu Ram would be quizzed about firearms and its parts handed over to him by a wanted Naxal commander, Vinay Ram alias Sita Ram. He said the ATS mentioned in the remand application that Lallu Ram knew about locations in Ballia, Ghazipur and Azamgarh where Naxal leaders had taken shelter, and he had agreed to identify those places.
Tara Devi, meanwhile, would be quizzed over funds collected, money transactions and the places where she allegedly hid the money, the ATS official said, adding that Ram Moorat would be questioned about firearms they collected and recover them from different places in Bihar and eastern U.P. districts of Banaras, Ballia and Azamgarh.
Earlier, the ATS officials claimed that the five accused, who were key members of the banned Community Party of India (Maoist), were arrested from a hut where they were holding a secret meeting.
The ATS claimed that the father and daughter were associated with the outfit for the past two decades and were involved in collecting funds and firearms to establish a Naxal government in the country. Tara Devi was involved in Madhuban bank dacoity on July 23, 2005, in which two policemen were killed in indiscriminate firing by Naxals, but she was never arrested, the ATS had said.
All arrested persons were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 121-A (waging war against the nation and collecting firearms with intent to wage war against the nation), and other sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
