An NIA spokesperson said several digital devices, including mobile phones, SIM cards and memory cards, along with incriminating documents like pamphlets of the proscribed Naxal outfit were seized during the searches.
Top Maoist leader Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head, has been arrested in Jharkhand along with his wife Sheela Marandi, a senior police officer said on Friday.
The Maoists have warned that if the government does not stop unfairly targeting them and charging false cases against them, what happened in Kochi at the Jehovah's Witnesses convention can be expected during the 'Hamas rally of fake comrades' in the district, an official said.
The Bombay High Court has granted bail to researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. The court noted that they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial was yet to start. The court said the two had spent more than six years in jail as under-trial prisoners. The NIA, the prosecution agency, did not seek a stay to the HC order. Eight other activists have been granted bail in the case, which pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017.
The exchange of fire took place in the Njettithodi area of the Uruppumkutty forest under the Karikkottakari police station limit, they said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested a top Maoist leader as it carried out raids at 62 locations across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the Communist Party of India-Maoist conspiracy case, an official said.
Rao's history includes arrests in 2000 by Sahadha police of Nandurbar district and subsequent releases, as well as an underground stint in 2002, leading to his arrest by Malkanoor PS police of Karnataka in 2005.
Prolonged incarceration without trial amounts to infringement of the right to life under the Constitution, the Bombay high court said while urging a special court to expedite the trial in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
The MVA government had planned to arrest Devendra Fadnavis and when he objected, they planned to arrest him as well, said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde
Researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, were released on bail from a Navi Mumbai prison on Friday, more than six years after they were arrested. The duo walked out of the Taloja jail after completing bail formalities before the special NIA court, over a fortnight after they were granted bail by the Bombay High Court. The HC granted bail to Wilson and Dhawale on January 8, noting they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial in the case, in which anti-terror act UAPA has been invoked, was yet to start. Apart from Dhawale and Wilson, 14 other activists and academicians were arrested in the case. Eight of them have been granted bail till now, with one, Mahesh Raut, still in jail as the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against his bail is pending before the Supreme Court. Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, one of the accused, died in 2021 while lodged in judicial custody. The case pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima, a village outside Pune city, the next day. The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists. The NIA later took over the probe.
A top Maoist leader carrying a reward of Rs 7 lakh on his head has been arrested from the outskirts of Ranchi, police said on Wednesday
According to a media report published on Saturday, only one of the outfits to which eight of the arrested activists belonged was declared as unlawful.
The Naxalites, 10 of whom are women, turned themselves in before senior officials of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), he added.
In a blow to the Naxals, top Maoist leader Kanchan has been arrested along with two others from the outskirts of Kolkata. Kanchan, one of the top Maoist leaders after Kishenji, had planned and implemented the Lalgarh movement in November 2008. The Maoist Central committee member, who was wanted in several cases of sedition, was arrested by the Special Task force of the police on Friday. "Yes, we have arrested Kanchan from Kolkata," said a police official.
An Andhra Pradesh based couple, allegedly behind the spurt in Naxal violence in Bihar and Jharkhand, has been arrested.
In a major achievement for Odisha police, top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda wanted in over 60 criminal cases, has been arrested prompting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to appeal to Naxals to eschew violence and join the mainstream
Dinesh Tati (23), resident of Palnar village in Gangaloor police station limits, was held on Friday from a tractor showroom in Bijapur town, Additional Superintendent of Police Chandrakant Gavarna said.
Saibaba died at due to gall bladder infection and other complications.
A top Maoist leader, allegedly involved in the killing of five policemen and subversive activities ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, was arrested on Thursday in Latehar district of Jharkhand.
Kobad Gandhi, a CPI-Maoist Polit Bureau member, was apprehended by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Sunday night following an input received from intelligence agencies, they said. Police sources, however, refused to divulge from where he was arrested.
Five Maoists, including a top aide of the outfit's senior leaders Kishenji and Telgu Dipak, were arrested from the outskirts of Kolkata on Tuesday. Acting on a tip-off, five Maoists were arrested from South 24 Parganas, adjoining the metropolis, said Inspector General of Police Neeraj Nayan. Of the arrested ultras, Madhusudhan Mondal alias Narayan, Rajesh Mondal, Sachin Ghosal were arrested from Amtala, while Siddhartha and Sanjay were arrested from Garia, he said.
'The strategy of frontal organisations of the Maoists is to create unrest and ensure that such unrest leads to a law and order problem.' 'To cover such acts it was necessary to bring in a different definition of unlawful activities which is different from the definition of unlawful activities in the UAPA.'
Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, contested the figure of Rs 1.64 crore saying the agency's calculation of the amount payable was wrong and contrary to the relevant rules.
Kabir Kala Manch activists had allegedly made provocative speeches leading to violence at Koregaon Bhima in the district, according to an FIR registered at Vishrambaug police station after the event.
The agency, in its affidavit filed in response to Navlakha's plea, also claimed that he had 'committed acts that had a direct impact on the national security, unity and sovereignty'.
Prime accused in the Jnaneswari Express train sabotage Asit Mahato, who was carrying a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, was arrested on Sunday from Gorneta village in West Midnapore district of West Bengal.
The Supreme Court said on Friday keeping activist Gautam Navlakha under house arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case further will set a "wrong precedent" and directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to apprise it of his current medical condition and the stage of trial.
During the operation, members of the proscribed People's Liberation Front of India opened fire at approaching security personnel and the law enforcers retaliated, he said.
In one of the deadliest blows to Naxalites in Chhattisgarh, security forces on Sunday gunned down 31 rebels, including 11 women, in a fierce encounter in the state's Bijapur district, police said.
With this incident, 154 Naxalites have been gunned down by the security forces in different encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year, the police said.
Ten Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Friday, a senior police official said. The gunfight broke out in the morning in a forest within the jurisdiction of the Bhejji police station when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation. The operation was launched based on inputs about the presence of Maoists belonging to Konta and Kistaram area committees of Naxalites on forested hills of Korajguda, Dantespuram, Nagaram and Bhandarpadar villages. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai hailed security forces and said the era of peace and progress has returned to the Bastar region, which includes Sukma.
The Communsist Party of India-Maoist spokesperson Gour Chakraborty was held by the Kolkata Police, from the office of a regional television channel in Park street, central Kolkata. Chakraborty was there for an interview. According to sources Chakraborty may be arrested if it is proved that he has direct or indirect links to the Maoists' operations across the country.
Arrested Maoist-backed tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato has been charged with sedition and booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for raising funds for a terrorist outfit and attempting to murder police personnel.
The Jharkhand police on Tuesday arrested two persons, including a village sarpanch, for their alleged involvement with Maoists in the Saturday's landmine blast that claimed 13 lives, while the cadres released three persons from their custody.
Gautam Navlakha, an accused in Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was released from Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai on Saturday evening and will live under house arrest for a month.
The Medal for Gallantry recipients also included Humayun Bhat, a deputy superintendent of police who was one of four officers to lay down their lives during an encounter with terrorists in south Kashmir's Kokernag in September 2023.
In two separate attacks, suspected Maoists triggered a blast on the railway tracks in Jharkhand's Giridih district, damaging its fish plates, and also blew up a mobile tower in Hazaribag, the police said.
The anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam, on Monday condemned the arrest of Pallab Borbora, a human rights activist and director of a private school by the National Investigation Agency from Merapani in Golaghat district of Assam on charges of having links with Maoists.
'The Maoists have weakened considerably in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh after Milind Teltumbde's death.'
