NIA files charge sheet in Hyderabad court against arrested Maoist leader

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a charge sheet in a special court in Hyderabad against a top leader of the banned CPI(Maoist) in a case related to a conspiracy to promote left-wing extremism in the country, officials said.

The charge sheet was filed against CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member Sanjoy Deepak Rao alias Sanjay Deepak Rao, they said, adding he was also known by the names of Vikas, Anand and Aravind.

The accused, a resident of Thane district in Maharashtra, was arrested on September 15 last year from the Malaysian Township area in Hyderabad, they said. A revolver with ammunition, multiple forged Aadhaar cards, a laptop and cash were seized from his possession.

According to the agency spokesperson, "The accused had actively recruited and radicalised other individuals to join the CPI(Maoist) in a systematic process and manner to carry acts related to terror and violence, in conspiracy with other Maoist cadres."

"He had also raised funds for furthering the activities of the proscribed terrorist organisation, including procurement of arms and ammunition. NIA had found that Sanjoy had been involved in organising terror camps in the Western Ghats Special Zonal Committee of the CPI (Maoist) as part of the conspiracy," the spokesperson said.

The case was initially registered by the Telangana Police at KPHB police station following Sanjoy's arrest. The NIA took over the investigation and re-registered the case on January 3 this year.

Further investigation into the case was underway, the spokesperson said.