NIA chargesheets five Maoists

The National Investigation Agency has filed a charge sheet against five Maoists for waging war against the government. CPI-Maoist members Sadula Ramakrishna, Dipak Kumar, Sukumar Mondal, Sambhu Charan Pal and Bapi Mudi were chargesheeted in the Kolkata NIA Special Court on Friday for making and supplying weapons, ammunition and explosive substances.

Arrested under various sections of the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, they were caught with Rs.96.66 lakh, ammunition, explosive materials, Maoist literature, diagrams, literature and components on rocket launchers.

In its charges sheet, the NIA said that during investigations, which involved police forces from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Kolkata, several finished components of rocket launchers and other area weapons were recovered from their workshops in Raipur and Kolkata.

“It was revealed that a conspiracy was hatched by the CPI-Maoist [then known as the CPI(ML) PW, which is also banned under the UA(P) Act] in or around early 1990s to develop sophisticated arms and ammunition, including weapons like rocket launchers and others, for use by its armed cadres against the armed forces of the state, to intensify the war against the government of India,” the charge sheet said.

One of the accused, Sadula Ramakrishna, was instrumental in the formation of a technical development committee in 1994 to coordinate the technical units producing light articles outside the field/combat zone.

After the formation of the Central Technical Committee (CTC), from 2002 to 2006 technical units were established at Pune, Rourkela, Indore, Bhopal and Bhubaneswar under the close supervision and guidance of the accused Sadula. Recoveries and arrest of CTC members were made from Bhopal and Rourkela in January, 2007, the NIA said.

From 2008, Sadula established CTC teams in Kolkata and in Thane near Mumbai, Maharashtra, and, with the assistance of team members, started procuring raw materials and finished components of weapons. The finished products, assembly tools and related items were being regularly sent to Raipur, Chhattisgarh. From Raipur they were being transported to the forests of Dandakaranya and Abhujmaad where they were assembled by the mobile assembly units of the CPI(Maoist), the charge sheet added.