TISS student accused of ‘Maoist links’ sent to jail by court

The police told the court that the accused had sent a supposedly objectionable book titled ‘Prison House Rose Garden’ to various groups via Telegram and had “not only downloaded Maoist literature but had also done field work relating to it”.

MUMBAI: The Esplanade court on Tuesday remanded a Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) student, who was arrested by the Crime Branch on August 7, to judicial custody. The 32-year-old postgraduate student, Abhirup Ashim Paul, was arrested for an “unauthorised” campus event marking human rights activist and Delhi University professor G N Saibaba’s death anniversary.

Covention centre at TISS Deonar, Mumbai Pic: Kedar Bhat

Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray on Tuesday told the court that Paul had visited several places such as Dehenepol, Sunderbans Kshetra, Mohanpur, Karave village and JNPT Port “in the name of field work and college research”. “An accused in the Elgar Parishad case, Mahesh Raut, visited several places and even Gadchiroli under the guise of TISS research. He was later arrested for his connections with Maoist organisations,” said Hiray, trying to forge a link between the two cases.

The police told the court that the accused had sent a supposedly objectionable book titled ‘Prison House Rose Garden’ to various groups via Telegram and had “not only downloaded Maoist literature but had also done field work relating to it”. A police officer said the literature found with the accused was “extremely serious from a national security perspective”. “Paul visited JNPT, an economically and socially sensitive port project, along with a professor,” he said. “He sent WhatsApp messages stating ‘Say no to India’s corporate nuclear agenda’ and ‘Target economic centres of control’. This shows he was conducting reconnaissance of national key economic/social establishments.”

According to the police, Paul’s visit to Karave village in Navi Mumbai and his interactions with the local fishing community regarding the impact of development projects on their livelihood, was a national threat. “He established contact with local dissatisfied elements and tried to incite them toward anti-development stances, using them to create widespread unrest, which appears to be part of the Maoist modus operandi,” said the police officer.

On October 12, 2025, more than nine TISS students were booked by the Crime Branch for gathering in the campus to observe the death anniversary of Saibaba who was accused of having links with outlawed Maoist organisations. Saibaba was acquitted of all charges by the Bombay high court after seven years in prison, which badly affected his health.

Paul’s lawyer Vijay Hiremath told the court that his client was a student of disaster management and made field trips as per his professors’ guidance. “The books are not written by him; he was just reading them as a student,” he said. “Reading is not an offence. He has no connection with Mahesh Raut. They just want to arrest a student, keep him in jail and make him an example to deter future students from protesting.”