NIA raids Hyderabad journalist's house for alleged links with Maoists

Hyderabad: NIA teams carried out searches at several locations in Hyderabad, including the home of senior journalist, N Venugopal and human rights activist Ravi Sharma, on Thursday.

Venugopal is the editor of Veekshanam. He has also written several books. He is a relative of Pendyala Varavara Rao, who was named by the NIA as an accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.

The raids began at 5 am and continued till 11 am. Venugopal is suspected to have links to banned outfit Maoists’ leader Sanjoy Deepak Rao.

Deepak Rao was arrested by the Cyberabad Police intelligence department in September. The police had said at the time that Sanjoy Deepak Rao was the secretary of the Western Ghat Special Zonal Committee, South Regional Bureau, and a member of the Central Committee of the Maoists.

In the case, police filed an FIR against 24 persons including Venugopal as A 22, under sections 10, 13, 16, 17, 18, 18b, and 20 of the UAPA, section 8(1)(2) of the Telangana Public Security Act, and section 25 of the Arms Act. After the NIA has taken over this case, the probe has been intensified.

Venugopal said that the NIA teams had seized his phone.