NIA raids Veekshanam editor's house to probe Maoist links
The raid is said to be a continuation of the NIA’s questioning of the Maoist central committee member Sanjay Deepak Rao. Venugopal was allegedly in touch with Sanjay.
- City News
NewsTAP Bureau- Updated On:8 Feb 2024 4:23 PM GMT
HYDERABAD: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the residences of journalist N Venugopal, editor of ‘Veekshanam’ magazine and son-in-law of revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, and civil liberties association leader Ravi Sarma on Thursday.
The raid is said to be a continuation of the NIA’s questioning of the Maoist central committee member Sanjay Deepak Rao. Venugopal was allegedly in touch with Sanjay.
The Telangana police had arrested Deepak Rao in September 2023 at Madhapur when he came to meet his friends. The police had also seized a tevolver with live rounds, forged Aadhaar cards, Rs 47,280 cash and other materials from his possession then. Later, the NIA registered cases against Deepak Rao and took him into custody. The custody period would complete on February 11, 2024.
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According to the NIA, "Teams raided premises of accused and suspects at a total of six locations – two in Hyderabad, and one each in Thane, Chennai, Mallapuram and Pallakad, in the four States this morning. The agency conducted extensive searches, leading to the seizure of incriminating documents and books related to the proscribed CPI (Maoist) outfit. Six mobiles with SIM cards and Rs 1,37,210 cash was also seized."
The NIA, which took over the case in January 2024, found during investigations that Sanjay Deepak Rao was actively working for the banned Naxal organisation in the tri-junction area of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Under his directions, other frontline members of CPI (Maoist) were operating in the urban areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala to promote the activities of the outfit. Further investigations in the case are continuing.
NIA officials also raided the LB Nagar residence of Ravi Sarma at 4 am and conducted searches. The officials seized mobile phones and pamphlets and served a notice asking Ravi Sarma to appear before the agency for questioning on February 10.
