Pune police likely to question Digvijaya Singh in Maoist probe

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh is likely to be questioned by the Pune Police in connection with investigation into the banned CPI (Maoist) outfits. According to a report published in The Indian Express, Digvijaya Singh’s mobile number was reportedly mentioned in one of the letters recovered from the arrested activists. One of the letters, dated September 25, 2017, one ‘Com Prakash’ purportedly tells one ‘Com Surendra’ that Singh was “very much willing to assist” them to “intensify nationwide protests using students”, the report said.

The Pune Police claims that ‘Com Prakash’ is one of the top CPI (Maoist) commanders and ‘Com Surendra’ is a Nagpur-based lawyer Surendra Gadling, who was arrested in June this year. The police claimed that during the investigation and raids, they have found a letter claiming to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajeev Gandhi-type incident.

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Several prominent activists, including Varavara Rao, have been arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elghar Parishad meeting held on December 31, 2017. The police claimed that speeches by the activists provoked the Bhima Koregaon violence the next day in which one person was killed and several others sustained injuries.

In August 2018, the Pune Police had conducted multi-city raids and arrested five left-leaning activists – Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira. However, the Supreme Court intervened and put them under house arrest. However, except Gautam Navlakha, the other four activists have been taken into custody after their house arrest ended.

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On Sunday, Varavara Rao was produced before a special Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Maharashtra government pleader Ujjwala Pawar told the court that sanction has been sought to prosecute activist-poet P Varavara Rao and other accused in the Elgar Parishad case on charges of waging war against India.