A district court in Dantewada, South Chhattisgarh on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of seven members of Telangana Democratic Front’s (TDF) fact finding team.
The team was arrested last week from Sukma district by the State police for allegedly carrying banned currency notes and “Maoist literature”.
Advocate Kshitij Dubey, who represented the members of the team along with other Telangana lawyers, said, “The court ruled that it would be premature to grant bail to the activists when the investigation in the case is still at its early stage. We will now approach the High Court.”
The team members — C.H. Prabhakar Chikadpalli, B. Durga Prasad, K. Rajendra Prasad, D. Prabhakar, B. Ravindranath, Mohammad Nazir and R. Laxmaiyaa — include lawyers, research scholars, and a journalist. The police had booked them under section 8 (1), 8 (2), 8 (3), 8 (5) of Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act for allegedly “indulging in Maoist propaganda and expansion, supplying material to the Maoists, and inciting people against the police and the administration.” The police claims to have recovered ₹ 1,00,000 in banned currency notes from the team, however, the team members claim the currency and the alleged Maoist literature were planted by the police.
