Chhattisgarh police arrest official from Hyd's NGRI for alleged link with naxals

Twenty-three detonators were allegedly recovered from his possession, the police said.
Chhattisgarh police arrest official from Hyd's NGRI for alleged link with naxals
Chhattisgarh police arrest official from Hyd's NGRI for alleged link with naxals
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The Chhattisgarh Police on Sunday arrested an official from Hyderabad's National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and said that he was allegedly working as a Maoist operative. The police said that 54-year-old N Venkat Rao alias Murty, a senior technical officer at the institute who hailed from Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district, was allegedly supplying various explosive materials to Naxals.

"Twenty-three detonators, naxal documents, Maoist literature, a laptop, a mobile phone and two chargers were recovered from his possession. A senior naxal leader who had surrendered before police in Durg range couple of months ago, had revealed crucial details about overground network of Maoists functioning in urban areas. During interrogation, Murty revealed that he was inspired by radical students' union protest in Andhra Pradesh in the 1980s and since then he had been supporting the Maoist ideology," Inspector General of Police (Durg Range) GP Singh told PTI.

According to reports, Rao was arrested as he was heading towards Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh via Deori in Maharashtra. The authorities also claim that Rao was part of the 'urban naxal' network.  

In June this year, police in Pune had allegedly recovered a letter mentioning a plan to assassinate PM Modi from the house of one of the five persons arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence. The letter reportedly mentioned the name of revolutionary writer Varvara Rao.

Varavara Rao, who heads Virasam, an association of revolutionary writers, was arrested by the Pune police on August 28 along with activists Arun Ferriera, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves. A case was booked against human rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj as well. The police claims that they were all part of the ‘urban naxal’ network. The arrests were widely condemned.

Meanwhile, just last week, four alleged Maoists were arrested during a search operation near Orchha village in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district. During patrolling in the area, a team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) personnel arrested the Maoists, who upon seeing the police, tried to flee. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against all four and they were presented before a magistrate. During interrogation it was found that the arrested Maoists were involved in a shooting incident in June.

IANS inputs

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