NIA raids 11 locations in West Bengal in Maoist revival conspiracy case

Officials are said to have recovered several documents, laptops, mobiles, pamphlets, hard drives, magazines, and handwritten letters

National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials conducted multiple raids across 11 locations in West Bengal on Tuesday in a CPI (Maoist) revival conspiracy case in the eastern Indian region. The NIA authorities conducted the raids along with the Special Task Force (STF) of the West Bengal Police. 

“NIA teams conducted elaborate searches at the houses of suspects at a total of 11 locations in South 24 Parganas, Asansol, Howrah, Nadia and Kolkata districts. The suspects were overground workers of CPI (Maoist) and were believed to have assisted the organisation’s commanders in carrying out Naxal activities,” the agency said. 

One of the 11 raid locations was in the heart of Kolkata, in the Netaji Nagar residential locality. 

During the raids, the NIA sleuths are said to have recovered several incriminating documents, laptops, mobiles, pamphlets, hard drives, magazines, and handwritten letters.  

Six arrested so far

“A total of six accused, including CPI (Maoist) polit bureau members Prashant Bose and Pramod Mishra, and central committee member Sabyasachi Goswami have so far been arrested in the case, registered at the NIA police station in Ranchi in April 2022. Thirteen top CPI (Maoist) leaders were named in the FIR along with others,” said NIA officials on Tuesday. 

Reportedly the conspiracy was by polit bureau/central committee members, cadres and sympathisers to revive a “banned terrorist organisation”. Officials said the activities were on these locations to revive, propagate, and expand, CPI (Maoist) ideologies in Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and other States in the northern and eastern regions of India. 

Two women activists Sudipta Pal and Shipra Chakraborty have allegedly been incriminated in this case which led to these raids. Officials said these raids were conducted to understand the level of involvement these two women had in the Maoist networks and their role in the allegedly bigger conspiracy. 

Ms. Pal told a local television channel, “It was very sudden. They showed me papers of investigation order and search warrant. From the search warrant I gathered that this is about a case in Ranchi and the investigating officer there has allowed the NIA officials here to search my place.” She claimed that in the name of the search, the officials had made a mess of her home and taken all devices. 

“This is a false case which they have fabricated to conduct these investigations. They have hampered my work as they took away my devices,” said Ms. Pal.  

Subhash Bhandari, the landlord of Ms. Pal, said he saw the NIA officials knock at the door early in the morning. He stated, “Ms. Pal has been our tenant for the last 3 years. As far as I know she is part of human rights activism. I have no clue about any Maoist links. Only official investigation will reveal that.” 

Published - October 01, 2024 10:34 pm IST