Pune Police raid houses of Maoist 'sympathisers'

In a major crackdown, the Pune Police on Tuesday conducted simultaneous raids on alleged Maoist sympathisers across several states, including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, in connection with January 1, 2018, Koregaon-Bhima riots.

Among those whose residences were raided included Varavara Rao, whose Hyderabad house was searched. Besides, the Mumbai houses of Arun Pereira, Vernon Gonsalves and Susan Abraham were searched by police teams.

In Goa, the house of Anand Teltumbde was raided. The residences of Stalin Swamy in Jharkhand, and Gautam Navlakha and Sudha Bhardwaj in Delhi were also searched.

On June 8, the Pune Police unearthed a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi the way Rajiv Gandhi was killed.

Earlier, several Maoist supporters were arrested which included Surendra Gadling, general secretary of the Indian Association of People’s Lawyers from Nagpur; Prof Shoma Sen, HoD English, Nagpur University; Sudhir Dhawale, editor of 'Vidrohi' from Mumbai; Rona Wilson, public relations secretary, Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners and Mahesh Raut, anti-displacement activist from Bharat Jan Andolan and former fellow Prime Minister’s Rural Development for Gadchiroli district.

The present crackdown is in connection with the case registered in January at Vishram Baug Police Station in Pune with regard to the holding of the Elgar Parishad on December 31, 2017, by the 'Bhima-Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyan'.

This FIR, originally registered under Sections 153(A), 505 (1)(b), 117 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), was made a conspiracy case in March 2018 and has now had sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) added to it.

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