NIA chargesheets 8 for supplying explosives, drones to CPI (Maoist) members in Telangana

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday chargesheeted eight accused in Telangana for allegedly supplying explosives, drones and other equipment to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) for attacking security forces in the Maoist-affected areas of the country, an official said.

All the eight accused are in custody following their arrest under sections of the Indian Penal Code, Telangana Public Security Act, Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the official said.

While three of them, working as couriers for the proscribed outfit, were nabbed on their way to supply the explosives, drones and a lathe machine, the others were apprehended subsequently, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.

The official said investigations have revealed that the explosive material recovered from the possession of the three arrested -- Punem Nageswar Rao, Devanuri Mallikarjun Rao and Vollepogula Umashankar -- was originally supplied to them by accused Jannu Koti, Arepalli Srikanth, Tallapalli Arogyam and Bontha Mahender.

The latter four had procured the stuff from Sonaboina Kumaraswamy, who held a licence for dealing in explosives, the spokesperson said.

The official said investigations have further revealed that the courier trio of Punem, Devanuri and Vollepogula had purchased and supplied a drilling machine to the Maoists in March.

They had further purchased a lathe machine in May for delivery to CPI (Maoist), a Left-wing extremist organisation involved in various terrorist activities, the spokesperson said.

The official said these accused had also purchased a drone for the Maoists in May intended for spying on the activities of security forces inside the forest.

They further received explosive materials, meant to unleash violent attacks on security forces, from their co-accused, to be supplied to the accused underground Maoists, the spokesperson said.

The official said the cache that the three accused were carrying at the time of their arrest was intended for use in manufacturing of country-made arms, to be deployed against the security forces in India's Maoist-affected areas.

The case was initially registered at Cherla police station in Telangana on June 5 and taken over by the NIA on August 3, the spokesperson said, adding further investigations to expose and demolish the CPI (Maoist) outfit's nefarious anti-India designs are in progress.