Arrested activist’s mail spoke of ‘Rajiv Gandhilike’ event: Cops
STICKING TO STAND Say they have proof of activists’ links with Maoist outfits
MUMBAI: Police on Friday claimed that they have “conclusive proof” to link Left-wing activists arrested in June and this week to Maoists, saying one of them spoke of a “Rajiv Gandhi-type event to end Modi-raj”.
An email between Rona Wilson, one of the arrested activists, and a Maoist leader, speaks of ending “Modi-raj” with a ‘Rajiv Gandhi-type incident’, additional director general (law and order) Parambir Singh said here.
Wilson was arrested in Delhi in June in connection with the Koregaon-bhima violence in Maharashtra in January. Police have seized “thousands of letters” exchanged between the overground and underground of Maoists, he said.
Pune police had on August 28 raided the homes of prominent activists in several states and arrested five of them - Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, Sudha Bharadwaj in Faridabad and Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.
The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the Elgaar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31 last year, which allegedly triggered violence at Koregaon-bhima in the district the next day.
The Supreme Court has ordered that the five should be kept under house arrest till September 6.
In June, Pune police had arrested Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai, activist Rona Wilson from Delhi and lawyer Surendra Gadling, professor Shoma Sen and Adivasi rights activist Mahesh Raut from Nagpur.
“The letter written by Rona to Maoist leader “Comrade Prakash” said: We have received your last letter regarding current situation here. Arun (Ferreira), Vernon (Gonsalves) and others are equally concerned about the urban front struggle,” the police official said.
The letter also spoke of requirement of ₹8 crore for supply of rifles, grenade launchers and four lakh rounds (of ammunition),” he said.
The letter asked Prakash to convey his decision, Singh said. “Comrade Kishen and a few other comrades have proposed concrete steps to end the Modi raj. We are thinking along the lines of another Rajiv Gandhi (assassination)-like incident,” Singh quoted the letter as saying.
Delhi University professor G N Saibaba was arrested in 2014 on basis of similar evidence, including letters, he said.
“Police only moved to take action against these people (activists) when we were confident that clear links have been established between these overground activists and underground Maoists,” Singh said.