Telangana police hatching another Bhima Koregaon case, says activist

A south Indian version of the Bhima Koregaon case is being brewed by Telangana police, who have invoked the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against journalists, activists and intellectuals..The issue came to public attention following a Facebook post by N Venugopal, editor of the Telugu journal Veekshanam, citing a news report published by Telugu daily Eenadu on September 21. Venugopal, who has also been named in the case, is nephew of Varavara Rao – one of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.The Telangana police have registered cases against 24 individuals and “others” under sections 10, 13, 16, 17, 18, 18b, and 20 of the UAPA, section 8(1)(2) of the Telangana Public Security Act, and section 25 of the Arms Act, based on a confession statement by Communist Party of India (Maoist) Central Committee member Sanjay Deepak Rao.Interestingly, the list includes seven Malayali names: Senior journalist KP Sethunath, human rights activist CP Rasheed, Marxist intellectual K Murali, CP Ismail, CP Moinuddin, Pradeep, and Varghese, respectively. Sethunath, a renowned journalist with more than two decades of experience, has published many critical articles on various topics ranging from human rights to development and addressed many protest meetings and people’s gatherings. He is also the editor of Malabar Journal. Sethunath refused to comment on the case, saying he did not have much information about the case.Alerted by the Facebook post, Rasheed and others sourced FIR No 819/2023, registered on September 15, 2023, at the KPHB colony police station under Telangana’s Cyberabad Police Commissionerate. Unfortunately for them, the confession statement was in the Telugu language. “I am completely unfamiliar with Telugu. It took me at least four days, with the help of a friend, to finish reading the seven-page confession statement. Even after reading the statement, the allegation against me is unclear,” said Rasheed, a human rights activist associated with the Janakeeya Manushyavakasha Prasthanam.According to advocate Thushar Nirmal Sarathy, who has appeared for many UAPA accused in trial courts, presenting FIR in a language alien to the accused is a common strategy by investigative agencies across the country. “Our country is known for its diversities. Here, the state is using these excuses to mentally torture individuals. In another UAPA case against an alleged Maoist from Karnataka, agencies submitted the chargesheet in Malayalam language. Their lawyer approached us to translate it. It was a painstaking job and took many days. The precious hours to study the case got wasted doing such futile exercise,” Thushar said.According to the Eenadu news report, the individuals in the FIR were listed under three categories: Top Maoist leaders, other leaders, and leaders of mass organisations, respectively. However, the confession statement, in possession of The News Minute, does not mention any such categorisation. As per the confession statement given by Sanjay, in 2021, he met some intellectuals from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to destabilise the Indian government through armed revolution. These intellectuals include K Muralidharan, KP Sethunath, CP Ismail, CP Rashid, Varalakshmi (Virasam), Pinakani (Virasam), Gade Padmakumari, N Venugopal (Virasam), N Ravi Sharma, and Nakka Narayana. Virasam is an acronym for 'Viplava Rachayitala Sangam' (Revolutionary Writers' Association).“On September 24, 2021, against the government, the Kabani faction had a meeting to recruit new members into the Maoist party to dethrone the government. In Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana urban areas, we got in contact with the below-mentioned important people who were members of the banned CPI Maoist party, mass and front organisations. I was in contact with them and giving instructions to carry out activities against the Indian government and how to dethrone the government through armed struggle,” the statement reads.The FIR lists 24 names in this order: Sanjay Deepak Rao, Nambala Keshava Rao, Muppala Laxman Rao, Mallojula Venugopal Rao, Thippiri Thirupathi, Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy, Katta Ramachandra Reddy, Malla Raji Reddy, Pakka Hanumanthu, Gajarla Ravi, Modem Balakrishna, CP Moinuddin, Pradeep, Varghese, K Muralidharan, KP Sethunath, CP Ismail, CP Rasheed, Varalakshmi, Pinakapani, Gadhe Padma Kumari, N Venugopal, Narla Ravi Sharma, Nakka Narayana, and others.Terming the FIR as baseless and cooked up, N Venugopal wrote on Facebook, “It seems whoever drafted the FIR does not know even basic facts. I am neither a member of Virasam nor any mass organisation, let alone a ‘leader’. I was expelled from Virasam in 2009,” he said. The first category named 11 central committee members, and the second and the third category included journalists and activists.According to K Murali, Eenadu and other media are just peddling the narrative of the investigating agencies. “Their agenda is to create a fear psychosis and induce suspicion among the public. After reading the news, there will be suspicion in an average reader’s mind about these intellectuals, journalists, and activists,” he said. Rasheed alleged that the case was an act of vengeance by the Indian state’s investigative agencies for legally challenging his brother’s fabricated encounter case. His brother, P Jaleel, an alleged Maoist activist, was killed by Kerala police in an alleged encounter at Upavan Resort in Vythiri in Wayanad on March 6, 2019. Following this, many people alleged it was a fabricated encounter. Rasheed and his human rights organisation actively followed up on the issue along with other fabricated Maoist encounter cases. Rasheed claimed that the pressure brought by him and other rights activists forced the police to release the forensic and ballistic examination reports and postmortem report of CP Jaleel and proved that it was a fabricated encounter.According to Thushar, Telangana police have been following a template regarding the Maoistcases. “In most FIRs, police get a tip about a Maoist faction active in the state. Acting on the tip, they will reach the spot, arrest a leader and seize weapons, money, and Maoist literature from the spot. During interrogation, the leader will confess the group’s action plan and frontal organisations’ involvement. Upon the information, the police will include several other individuals in the FIR under various sections of UAPA and public safety acts,” he said.The script to emphasise the Urban Naxal narrative is already set. Only characters and context changes, Rasheed added.On October 2, 2023, the National Investigation Agency( NIA) raided 62 locations across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They arrested Chandra Narasimhulu, a state executive committee member of the Pragatisheel Karmika Samakhya (PKS), an alleged Maoist frontal organisation, according to the NIA spokesperson, and recovered weapons, money, Maoist literature, and documents. The spokesperson further said that Narasimhulu’s custodial interrogation could yield information about the conspiracy relating to attempts by various frontal organisations to further the activities of CPI (Maoist). The raid was related to a case initially registered by the Munchingput police of Alluri Sitaramaraju district on November 23, 2020, based on information relating to Maoist activities and transportation of their literature. The spokesperson accused many human rights and cultural organisations, lawyer networks, and youth organisations of being frontal organisations. Of the seven Malayalis mentioned in the list, the personal information of Pradeep and Varghese is unknown. Rasheed, who has handled many cases of rights violations related to Maoists, said that he had not come across such names in any chargesheet. “Pradeep or Varghese can be pseudo names. It can be anybody. Tomorrow, police can arrest you and tell you that you are Pradeep,” advocate Thushar said. Also, as the chargesheet mentions others, new names can be added anytime, he said. Asked about how they planned to tackle the case, Rasheed said they would defend it legally and politically. “The democratic violation and the assault on the right to dissenthas to be exposed to the public. Through these fabricated cases, the state is curbing our right to dissent. We can only resist such moves by creating awareness among the public and changing the perception,” he said.With inputs from Balakrishna Ganeshan.

Telangana police hatching another Bhima Koregaon case, says activist

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