01 September,2018 08:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Suraj Ojha
Addl DGP Param Bir Singh speaks, as Pune Jt CP Santosh Bodkhe looks on, during a meet in Colaba on Friday. Pic/Bipin Kokate
The Maharashtra Police has finally broken its silence. Senior officers held a press conference yesterday, presenting nuggets of "evidence" against the five to establish their links with Maoists.
Additional Director General of Police (law and order), Maharashtra, Param Bir Singh said, "We have sufficient evidence and will file an affidavit in the Supreme Court with all the relevant documents to get their custody."
Letter revelations
"We have more chilling and shocking revelations, which include their links in France and America," an officer said. A letter retrieved from electronic gadgets of accused lawyer Surendra Gadling is written by comrade Prakash to comrade Anand, which will be submitted before the SC during the hearing.
It has Prakash instructing Anand to get in touch with well-known philosophers and professors in France and America who will be giving lectures on how to spread 'CASTE VIOLENCE IN INDIA'.
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According to Singh, another letter has a catalogue of weapons, which they (the accused) had planned to buy from their asset in Nepal for R8 crore. "But we don't know if they did buy anything. We need their custody to find that out," he added.
Recruitment process
According to the police, some of the accused, who are alumni of renowned institutes, would recruit during lectures at the colleges. They would speak about social work and try to zero in on students interested in that, said officers, adding that they would then radicalise the selected ones, saying 'we don't need democracy and it's time to be revolutionaries'.
Meeting minutes
Sources said that on March 19, 2017, in a meeting in Nagpur, many decisions were taken by the accused. Minutes of the meeting, headed by Sudha Bharadwaj, state that urban cadres should be given funds to take up violent activities.
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