NIA searches premises linked to jailed Maoist in Bihar

Sleuths of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday carried out searches at three places in Bihar in premises linked to a jailed Maoist, people familiar with the development said

Sleuths of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday carried out searches at three places in Bihar in premises linked to a jailed Maoist, people familiar with the development said.

Police stand guard during a NIA raid at a property linked to Maoist leader Vijay Arya at AG Colony in Patna on Friday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The jailed Maoist leader, Vijay Arya, is a member of the central committee of the CPI (Maoist).

In Patna, the NIA searched the rented accommodation of Arya’s son Prem Pankaj and seized a mobile and laptop from his AG Colony residence. Prem’s wife Pushpa Singh confirmed the seizure.

The probe agency also searched Arya’s native village at Karma in Gaya and seized two cellphones and Aadhaar card of his son Subodh Kumar, an engineer with a private company.

In Aurangabad, the NIA searched the house of Arya’s daughter Shobha Kumari, a district board member. Sleuths seized books and Maoist literature from her house, agency sources said.

An NIA official said Arya, currently lodged in Beur central jail, had played ideologue for the CPI (Maoist), which was involved in several incidents of massacres in Bihar.