Police claim some of the letters were exchanged between the accused and Comrade Prakash, spokesperson for CPI (Maoist) chief Ganapathy.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Police, under fire over the arrest of five activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, Friday divulged details of several letters, suggesting the accused were in regular touch with Maoist cadres.
At a press conference in Mumbai, additional director general of police (law and order) Param Bir Singh shared details of the letters that allegedly talk about arranging funds for Naxal cadres, procuring arms and ammunition, getting people from institutes such as Jawarharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and overthrowing the current government, among others.
Police claim the letters were intercepted during the investigation in the case.
Some of the letters were allegedly exchanged between the accused and Comrade Prakash, who is said to correspond on behalf of the central committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). He is said to be a spokesperson of the outfit’s commander Comrade Ganapathy.
Also read: Pune police arrested 5 activists in June. What happened to them
“There are thousands of such documents. We are investigating them… The originals are still with the state forensic laboratory,” Singh said.
“Copies have been given to police. The forensic laboratory is working to extract material from electronic devices. Once that is done, deleted material will also come forward,” he added.
Singh said the police are trying to establish clearly the role of the accused. “Prakash receives and writes letters on behalf of Ganapathy and the central committee. He is the spokesperson designated to communicate with other cadres,” the top police officer said.
The Pune police had Tuesday arrested five activists — Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha and Varavara Rao. Earlier in June, five other activists — Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale and Mahesh Raut — had been arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad, which allegedly provoked the January 1 Bhima-Koregaon violence.
The prosecution placed these letters on record in a Pune sessions court Wednesday while seeking 14-day custody for Ferreira, Gonsalves and Rao. The letters were not mentioned in the document used to seek police remand of the accused.
‘Correspondence’ with Naxal cadres
According to the police, in one such letter, Sudha Bhardwaj, a human rights lawyer currently under house arrest, wrote to Comrade Prakash about how the Bastar solidarity group is working well and she is personally overseeing the supply of finances and information to the interiors. The letter also talks about how JNU and TISS research fellows need to be sent to the interiors and she needs additional monetary assistance.
Singh also shared details from two letters, allegedly written by Rona Wilson to Comrade Prakash. One of the letters, which the police had produced as evidence in court in June, suggests a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi by targeting his road shows without naming him directly. The letter speaks about how “Arun and Vernon are concerned about the two-line struggle taking place on the urban front”.
In the letter, Wilson allegedly goes on to say that he hopes Comrade Prakash has received details of the requirement of Rs 8 crore for M4 ammunition and four lakh rounds.
In another letter, Wilson allegedly tells Comrade Prakash that he has been in touch with the supplier in Nepal and comrades from Manipur can also assist in this, but only “VV” has the authority to communicate with the supplier.
Also read: Bhima-Koregaon arrests: ‘Activists pushed Maoism, sought arms, waged war against state’
The letter further says, “Comrade Surendra and VV both feel there is pressing need to inflict heavy damage on enemy forces, something that we have not been able to do since 2013 Darba ambush. I am sending catalogue of available equipment along with this package.”
The catalogue allegedly contained details of Russian grenade launchers and was protected by a security code, which the police broke into.
Reading out another alleged correspondence between Navlakha and underground Maoists, Singh told mediapersons, “Gautam Navlakha was also directly in touch with the central committee and receiving instructions from Sudarshan.”
The police claim that Hyderabad-based Rao allegedly supplied funds to Gadling during demonetisation to be deployed in Naxal areas of Gadchiroli and Bastar, which the latter failed to.
Reading out from a correspondence between Rao and Gadling, Singh said Rao told Gadling that the confidence of the urban cadre was being dented. In a reply dated 17 March 2017, Gadling apologised saying it was not intentional and funding is being provided for the past five to seven days, police said.
‘Instructions to exploit Bhima-Koregaon violence’
The Maharashtra Police suspect that funding was received in two tranches — one of Rs 5 lakh and another Rs 10 lakh — for the Elgar Parishad held at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on 31 December. The letters with reference to the transfer of these funds say the money was to be used for activities against the RSS and the BJP.
Like every year, on 1 January Dalits from across the country made way to the Koregaon Bhima village in the Pune district to observe the anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle. However, this year, stones were pelted at the crowd and vehicles were set ablaze killing at least one person and injuring several others.
One of the letters intercepted by the police suggests that the accused allegedly received instructions to exploit the violence for more such agitations. Police claimed that on 2 January, Milind Teltumbde, a CPI (Maoist) operative, wrote to Wilson saying, “The Bhima-Koregaon agitation has been very effective. The unfortunate death of a youth must be exploited to prepare future agitations and propaganda material.”
Addressing the press conference Friday, ADG Singh said, “In this manner we have shared some prominent letters with you. We explained how these cadres were in touch with the underground movement, brainwashing people, recruiting students from TISS and JNU for insurgency work.”
Singh said the Maoist movement has the support from international groups as well and meetings have been held in places such as Paris.
Lawyers of the accused, however, say sharing details of an ongoing investigation is highly objectionable.
“These documents are a part of investigation, which should not be shared with anybody. Parts of the letter were read out in court, but even I am not privy to these documents,” said Rohan Nahar, lawyer of Rao.
“Legally, I am not entitled to it. But they are giving it to the media and general public. They are just trying to create prejudice among the media and the people,” he added.
Rahul Deshmukh, representing Gonsalves in court, said none of the remand requests filed since June have any reference to any letter.
“If they can show letters, read them out before the media, why can’t they show them to us? We don’t have access to them because the matter is under investigation,” he said.
“This is an attempt to influence the common man, who does not always read between the lines,” Deshmukh added.