Maoist leader’s Badarpur link

Kobad Ghandy, a Naxal leader arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police last week, visited a PhD student in Badarpur, south Delhi, whenever he came to the city. The student is now under the police scanner, reports Vijaita Singh.

Kobad Ghandy, a Naxal leader arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police last week, visited a PhD student in Badarpur, south Delhi, whenever he came to the city. The student is now under the police scanner.

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The 26-year-old student (name withheld) of economics had taken two rooms on rent in the congested lanes of Molarbandh Extension, close to Badarpur border.

Amba Dutt Sharma, the landlord, said Ghandy never stayed at the rented accommodation for more than a day, but visited the house once a month.

“Ghandy came to meet him once a month. He came at night and left in the morning,” said Sharma, who lives on the ground floor of the house.

He said he took Ghandy to be the student’s uncle. “At that time nothing unusual struck us. He appeared an old and frail man.”

Sharma said the student paid Rs 2,500 per month for the first floor accommodation. The rooms were rented to him in May 2009.

Police said they would question the student. The student, a native of Uttarakhand, left Delhi few days before Ghandy was apprehended and has not returned since then.

“The student told me he was going home,” said Sharma. “He called me a day ago to tell me that he will return after Diwali.”

Sharma said he did not get a tenant verification done as the youth hailed from his native place in Uttarakhand and had come to him through reference. Police said Ghandy had been visiting Delhi for three years.

“He wanted to garner support of the urban youth and came to Delhi as part of a strategy,” said a senior police officer.

In July, Yogendra Bhokti, a Maoist commander also staying in Badarpur, was arrested.