Letters show activists’ links with top Maoists: Prosecution tells court

PUNE: Letters seized during the searches show that the Leftwing activists arrested in the Elgar Parishad case had connections with some top Maoist leaders, the prosecution told a court here on Friday.

District Judge K D Vadane is currently hearing bail applications of activists Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Sudha Bharadwaj, arrested in June and August this year.

Pune police has evidence of their involvement in a larger conspiracy to undermine the sovereignty of India, public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar said, opposing the bail pleas. “The seized letters reveal a conspiracy of the banned CPI (Maoist) to abet frequent protests by instigating Dalit sentiments in various parts of the country,” she said. The Maoists and their sympathisers thought that these protests will “gradually break down the law and order and it will have political ramifications,” she added.

Pawar also read out some letters allegedly referring to top Maoist leaders who carry rewards on their heads.

“One of the letters mentions ‘comrade G’, who has been identified as comrade Ganapathy, who is the general secretary of CPI (Maoist) and carries a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head. Another letter has a mention of ‘comrade M’, who is comrade Dipak alias Milind Teltumbade (and) who carries a reward of Rs 40 lakh on his head,” the prosecutor said.

Police found Teltumbade’s photo on activist Rona Wilson’s laptop, she said. Wilson was among the activists arrested in June.