The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Friday that it has filed a chargesheet against seven CPI (Maoist) operatives, including Anduluri Annapurna of Pragatisheela Karmika Samakhya (PKS), for their role in conspiring, supporting and furthering the activities of the Maoist group in Andhra Pradesh and nearby states in connection with the Munchingput Maoist case.
An NIA spokesperson said here that besides Annapurna, the agency has named Pangi Naganna; Akkiraju Harigopal, member, Central Committee of CPI (Maoist), advisor and in-charge of Andhra-Odisha border; Boppudi Anjamma of Amarula Bandhu Mitrula Sangham (ABMS); Rela Rajeshwari of Chaitanya Mahila Sangham (CMS); Manukonda Srinivasa Rao of VIRASAM; and Jangala Koteshwar Rao aka Koti of Pragatisheela Karmika Samakhya (PKS), for their role in conspiring, supporting and furthering the activities of CPI (Maoist).
The official said that they have been chargesheeted under several sections of the IPC, UAPA, Explosives Substances Act and Arms Act.
The case relates to furthering the activities of proscribed organization CPI (Maoist) in Andhra Pradesh in the guise of frontal organisations. So far, six people have been arrested in connection with the case.
The official said that the case was originally registered on November 23 last year by the Visakhapatnam Police and was re-registered by the NIA on March 7 this year.
The case pertains to seizure of revolutionary literature of CPI (Maoist) and explosive substances from accused Naganna, who worked as a journalist. Naganna was intercepted by Munchingput Police in Visakhapatnam Rural during vehicle checking.
The police recovered a large cache of explosives and arms which were to be further handed to the members of CPI (Maoist) by Naganna. The NIA registered a case on March 7, 2021.
The NIA has named 64 people in the case. The prominent activists named in the FIR are Chilika Chandrasekhar, Duddu Prabhakar, and V.S. Krishna, the Human Rights Forum (HRF) coordinator for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, who have been speaking against Andhra’s anti-Naxal force — the Greyhounds — for allegedly raping 11 tribal women in 2007 in the Vakapalli incident.
The official said that investigation has revealed that ABMS, CMS, PKS, VIRASAM and PKM are frontal organisations/Praja Sanghalu of CPI (Maoists) and were floated in pursuance to the Tactical United Front strategy of CPI (Maoist).
The NIA official said that the five accused leaders of these frontal organisations used to meet Akkiraju Harigopal, advisor and In-charge, Andhra-Orissa Border, Special Zonal Committee, CPI (Maoist), and other leaders in the forest along with Naganna, who in the guise of working as a journalist was organising meetings and appointments with senior leaders of CPI (Maoist).
“During the meetings, the leaders of the frontal organisations used to discuss their strategy for organising agitations, dharnas and other activities against the government in order to spread the Maoist ideology and garner support from various sections of society for the cause of CPI (Maoist),” the NIA official said.
On April 1, the NIA had carried out searches at 31 locations in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, including the premises of advocate V. Raghunath, K. Padma and K.S. Chalam, and several civil and tribal rights activists in connection with its probe into the Munchingput Maoist case, and recovered cash to the tune of Rs 10 lakh and several other incriminating documents.
The searches were spread across eight districts of Andhra Pradesh — Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Prakasam, Srikakulam, Kurnool, Krishna, East Godavari and Kadapa, and four districts of Telangana — Ranga Reddy, Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Medak.
The NIA team seized 40 mobile phones, 44 SIM cards, 70 storage devices like hard discs, micro SD cards and flash cards, 184 CDs or DVDs, 19 pen drives, tabs, audio recorders, Rs 10 lakh in cash from one accused, sickles, axe, machetes besides CPI (Maoist) flags, as well as huge number of incriminating documents, handwritten letters, party literature, press notes etc., an NIA spokesperson had said.
(The story has been published via a syndicated feed.)
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