Sontakke, six others charged with extortion, forgery

The arrested naxal leader, Angela Sontakke, has been charged with extortion along with planning to carry out terror acts, impersonation and forgery.

The arrested naxal leader, Angela Sontakke, has been charged with extortion along with planning to carry out terror acts, impersonation and forgery.

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The Maharashtra Anti- Terrorism Squad (ATS) filed a charge sheet against Sontakke and six other Naxals, who were arrested in April and May.

The charge sheet was filed on July 20 and names eight persons as wanted accused. The charge sheet names Milind Teltumbde, Sontakke’s husband among the wanted accused and has listed more than 170 people as witnesses.

Sontakke, who goes by 11 other aliases, and the six other naxals have been charged with extortion as five of these witnesses have claimed that the naxals used to extort money from “tendu” leaf contractors, a source said.

The charge sheet also states that Sontakke indulged in instigating people against the government and distributed materials to incite mob.

The charge sheet also includes confession given by two of the accused.

It states that Sontakke was found with more than Rs7 lakh in cash, which she would have used to procure arms and ammunition for the naxal operations. Sontakke was also found with DVDs, laptop, hard discs,CDs, audio and video cassettes, which are used to influence people into joining naxal movement, the charge sheet states. The ATS had also recovered a PAN card and some other documents.

ATS had earlier said that she was trying to set up an urban base for naxals and was also instrumental in mobilising support for the naxal movement among labourers and students.

Sontakke is named in 20 offences, including the February 1, 2009, encounter that took place between Gyarpatti and Markegaon in which 15 policemen, including a police sub-inspector were killed.