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NIA sleuths raid residences of alleged CPI (Maoist) sympathisers
NIA sleuths carried out searches in 14 places in Hyderabad and also in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam and Visakhapatnam districts
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted search operations at the residences of alleged Communist Party of India (Maoist) sympathisers, civil rights activists and several other individuals on suspicion that they were extending support to the banned outfit, said people familiar with the developments.
The NIA carried out searches in 14 places in Hyderabad and also in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam and Visakhapatnam districts.
“The searches are based on specific information the NIA obtained after a recent encounter in Gadhchiroli district in which 27 Maoists were killed in a shootout with the police,” said an Andhra Pradesh police official, who wished not to be named.
The search operations began at 5am with a raid on the residence of G Kalyan Rao, a poet and leader of Viplava Rachayitala Sangham (Revolutionary Writers’ Association), in Alakurapadu village of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh. The NIA authorities are known to have seized pro-Maoist literature from him.
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Kalyan Rao is known to be closely related to the Maoist party’s central committee member Akkiraju Haragopal alias Ramakrishna or RK, who died from kidney-related ailments in Chhattisgarh on October 14. Ramakrishna was married to Kalyan Rao’s sister-in-law and both took part in the 2004 talks between Maoist party members and the Andhra Pradesh government.
NIA authorities also raided the residence of Annapurna, advocate and leader of a progressive women’s association in Visakhapatnam on suspicion that she had close contacts with the banned Maoists.
In Hyderabad, NIA sleuths carried out searches at the residences of Padma Kumari, president of Amarula Bandhu Mitrula Sangham (Association of Friends and Relatives of Martyrs) and Bhavani, the organisation’s secretary, in Subhash Nagar, Alwal.
Search operations were also conducted at the residence of former Maoists Narla Ravi Sharma and his wife B Anuradha in Hyderabad’s Nagole. In the past, Ravi Sharma was a central committee member of the Maoist outfit while Anuradha had worked in the state committee of the outfit’s Bihar-Jharkhand unit.
Last Friday, the Hyderabad police thwarted an attempt by a group of Maoist sympathisers to hold a condolence meeting in Hyderabad to mark the death of central committee member Ramakrishna.
The police also raided a printing press at Amberpet, which was publishing a book on Ramakrishna listing out his speeches, interviews and various articles. Cops seized over 1,000 copies of the book apart from computers, hard disks and pen drives among other things.
The police arrested V Ramakrishna Reddy, husband of social activist Sandhya, for allegedly “supporting” the activities of the outlawed CPI (Maoist).
The NIA made enquiries about the people who tried to hold the condolence meeting and also those who published the book. “The current raids could be part of those enquiries,” the Andhra Pradesh police official quoted above said.
