The Gondia police have arrested Sudhir Dhawle (42), Editor of Vidrohi magazine and freelance journalist based in Mumbai, on charges of waging war against the state. He was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
“The charges are the same as those slapped on [rights activist] Binayak Sen,” Mr. Dhawle's lawyer Surendra Gadling told The Hindu . He claimed that the police took Mr. Dhawle into custody on Sunday night itself from the Wardha railway station.
“He had gone there as a speaker at the Youth Ambedkari literature festival. He was picked up by the police as he was about to return to Mumbai,” the lawyer said.
Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Devri in Gondia district Shashikant Borate confirmed the arrest. “We arrested him today [Monday] at 9.30 a.m. from Wardha. He has been booked under Section 121-A of the Indian Penal Code read with sub-sections 17, 20 and 39, and under the UAPA.”
Mr. Borate said: “We took him into custody on the charges of being associated with the banned Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). His name emerged during an interrogation of the arrested members of CPI (ML).”
Mr. Borate said that on December 26, 2010, the police arrested Bhanu alias Bhaskar alias Bheemrao Bhowte, his wife Sunanda and three others on the charge of being the members of the Maharashtra State Committee of the CPI (ML).
“During the interrogation, Bhanu revealed the addresses of the outfit's offices. Two of them were in Chandrapur and one was in Nashik. We seized a laptop and some Naxalite literature during that raid,” he said.
“Interrogations revealed that one computer has been shifted to Mr. Dhawle's house. We want that computer for the investigation. Police are conducting searches at his house in Mumbai,” he said.
Mr. Dhawle's wife said the arrest and the raid were unexpected. “They [the police] have been picking up any book or magazine red in colour because they want to prove a connection to Naxalism. They have taken so many books on Marx, Lenin. They say they are searching for Naxal literature.”
She said the police had seized the central processing unit (CPU) of their newly bought computer. “They asked me if we got this from someone. I told them we have bought it. Still they have seized it. The search is on.”
