NAGPUR: The Maharashtra police’s Anti-Naxal Operation unit has claimed that by calling for “Bharat Bandh” on March 29, in protest of life imprisonment to former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba, the Maoists have confessed that he was linked to them.
The unit cited some banners that were put up by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in Etapalli and Bhamargad area of Gadchiroli district in the State.
The banners read, “Oppose the punishment of life imprisonment given to Prof. Saibaba, [JNU student] Hem Mishra and five others. Make sure the ‘Bharat Bandh’ of March 29 is successful.”
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The banned outfit also appealed to the people to unite and protest against “long punishments given to peoples’ leaders, who are fighting against corporate expansion, and against the policy of the State to give the country’s natural resources to the corporate houses.”
Some pamphlets found in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, apparently issued by the CPI (Maoist), read, “Fight for your water, forest, and land and form a united ‘secular morcha’ to fight the Hindutva fascism. We will fight and defeat the operation Green Hunt.”
A press statement issued by the Maharashtra ANO on Wednesday read, “The Maoists and their frontal organisations had tried to portray prof. Saibaba as an innocent wheelchair-bound professor, who has been implicated in a false case.”
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The Maoists have called for celebration of “Virodh Saptah” (Protest Week) between March 23 to March 29 and “Bharat Band” on March 29.
The ANO said, “The investigating officer, Mr. Suhas Bawache, had received over 20,000 letters from more than 90 countries condemning the arrest of prof. Saibaba. Some organisations recently protested in Mumbai demanding the scrapping of the UAPA act under which he was convicted. They could not have asked for Saibaba’s release directly.”
The special unit of Maharashtra police also informed that “secret meetings of Maoist supporters ” were organised in Nagpur, and Armori area of Gadchiroli last week, to create pressure on the police against prof. Saibaba’s jail term.
The ANO also claimed that the Maoist ambush in Sukma district of south Chhattisgarh on March 11, which resulted in death of 12 CRPF men, was related to the professor’s conviction as it happened right after he was sentenced by a Gadchiroli court. It also appealed to people to not give any response to the “Bharat Bandh.”