NIA submits supplementary charge sheet against arrested Maoist leader in Assam

According to NIA, accused Samrat Chakraborty is an active member of the banned outfit and was part of a conspiracy hatched by the top leadership of CPI (Maoist) to expand its organisational set-up and operational base in Assam

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a supplementary charge sheet against suspected Communist Party of India (Maoist)leader Samrat Chakraborty based on a case lodged in Guwahati, officials said.

Samrat was arrested by NIA from Kalyani Expressway near Kolkata in September this year (Representative Photo)

Samrat was arrested by NIA from Kalyani Expressway near Kolkata in September this year for allegedly trying to expand the Maoist base in parts of Assam.

Samrat, a resident of Dumdum area of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, was charge-sheeted under section 120B of Indian Penal Code and sections 18, 20, and 38 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.

According to NIA, accused Samrat Chakraborty is an active member of the banned outfit and was part of a conspiracy hatched by the top leadership of CPI (Maoist) to expand its organisational set-up and operational base in Assam.

NIA in its press release said, “Investigations have established that the accused Samrat Chakraborty was an active member of the proscribed terrorist organization CPI(Maoist). He was part of the conspiracy hatched by the CPI(Maoist) leadership to expand its organizational set-up and operational base in Assam.”

A senior officer of Assam police said that Samrat visited Assam’s Cachar district several times. “He worked in expanding Maoist activities in Assam and surrounding states along with his seniors. He used different names like Nirman, Nirmal, Nilkamal Sikdar, Amit and Argha.”

According to the police, Samrat was working under veteran Maoist leader Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee (Kanchan Da) who was arrested from Assam’s Cachar district in March this year.

Bhattacharjee and his associate Akash Orang, a member of the Assam state organising committee of the Maoists, were arrested from Patimara tea garden in Cachar’s Udharbond area on March 6.

Police said that Samrat was an old hand in the CPI (Maoists) and was known to be close to Kishenji, alias Malojula Koteswar Rao, the Maoist top gun who headed the group’s eastern India operations.

“Chakraborty has been visiting Cachar district since 2016. After the arrest of Kanchan Da, Samrat left Assam and started staying in West Bengal,” said police.

On September 2, a charge sheet was filed in a special NIA court in Guwahati against Kanchan Da. Following this, Samrat was arrested. Now NIA has filed an additional charge sheet naming Samrat.

Further investigations are being carried out by the counter-terrorism agency.