The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday searched two locations in Kozhikode, Kerala, and took two persons with suspected links to the banned CPI(Maoist) into custody. The houses of Vijith Vijayan and Abhilash were searched by a team from the NIA Kochi unit on Friday.
According to an NIA press note released on Twitter, the two men are suspected to be acquainted with Alan Shuhaib and Thwaha, the law students who were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in 2019, for allegedly distributing pro-maoist pamphlets in Kozhikode.
The search was conducted in the Pariyangode area in Kozhikode, and had begun in the wee hours of Friday morning, reports state. According to NIA, “Investigation in the case has revealed that Vijith Vijayan and Abhilash were instrumental in recruiting the accused Alan Shuhaib (A-1) and Thwaha (A-2)” of the Pantheerankavu maoist case “as members of the banned outfit.”
It was on November 1, 2019, that law students Alan Shuhaib (20) and Thaha Fazal (24) were arrested in Kozhikode, for allegedly distributing pro-maoist material in Kozhikode’s Pantheerankavu. A case was registered in the Pantheerankavu police station against Alan, Thaha and CP Usman - the third accused - who fled from the scene when the police raided the area.
“During the searches, several devices including eight mobile phones, seven SIM cards, two memory cards, one laptop, seven pen drives, one voice recorder and nine books and numerous documents supporting left wing extremism and CPI (Maoist) have been seized,” the NIA press note stated.
However, in December 2019, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) decided to take over the case from the Kerala government. The arrest of the students under the UAPA - which was termed draconian - and subsequent take over by the NIA had created a huge uproar in the state and was even condemned by CPI(M) leaders such as Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat.
On Tuesday, the chargesheet against Alan, Thaha and 40-year-old CP Usman was submitted at the special NIA court in Kochi, nearly six months after their arrest. According to reports, the three accused have been charged with conspiracy, unlawful activities and working in a banned outfit. The chargesheet also makes a mention of the pen drives and pamphlets allegedly seized from Alan and Thaha back in November.