Gujarat Timeline 2010

Date

Incidents

March 16

The Surat Rural Police arrested a former freelance journalist of Orissa, identified as Niranjan Mahapatra (37), from Pandesara in Surat District for his alleged involvement in Maoist movement in Surat city and different tribal areas of south Gujarat. Niranjan Mahapatra was produced before a local court on March 17, which sent him to the Police remand for 10 days. The Police claimed to have found several incriminating documents and books in Oriya related to Maoist movements from his rented accommodation at Jagannath Nagar. He is believed to be residing in Surat for the last five years.

N. K. Singh, suspected member of the CPI-ML-Janshakti was arrested from the Alang ship-breaking yard in Bhavnagar in the Saurashtra region where he was running a labour union. He hailed from Begusarai in Bihar.

Avinash Kulkarni, an activist working with the Adivasi Mahasabha in Dangs District of Gujarat was arrested for his alleged links with the Left Wing Extremists. He is believed to be a member of Communist party of India-Marxist-Leninist- Janshakti (CPI-ML-Janshakti). Two others were also arrested with him from Ahwa.

Satyam Rao (47), a suspected Naxal (Left Wing Extremist) was produced before Kathor court and was remanded for nine days.

Surat Range Inspector General of Police (IGP) A. K. Singh said that the interrogation of recently arrested suspected Naxals revealed that members of the Communist Party of Philippines (CPP) had trained a batch of 25 tribals from various parts of the country in guerrilla warfare and the use of arms, ammunition and explosives. The Kerala training camp was held nearly 10 years ago.

Three more persons were arrested for suspected Naxalite links in Dangs and Tapi Districts in south Gujarat. They were identified as Bharat Puwar and Sulat Puwar of Ahwa taluka and Jayram Goswami alias Jayram Thakur of Songadh taluka. The Police claimed to have recovered several incriminating documents from their residences. Sources said the three were members of the CPI -ML- Janshakti.

Surat Police arrested Nagpur (Maharashtra) based retired Customs Officer, Vishwanath Vardharajan Iyer (60), for suspected links with Naxalites (Left Wing Extremists). According to the Police, Iyer is among those who provided guerrilla warfare training to a few Naxals from Gujarat in the forests in Kerala, sometime in 2000.

Sagar alias Shrinivas Venkatachalia (35), was arrested by the Police from Ghodasar area of Ahmedabad city on suspicion of having links with the Left Wing Extremists. He is native of Istalpuram village of Nalgonda District of Andhra Pradesh.

Two suspected Left Wing Extremists identified as Amrit Vaghela, an activist and his niece Hansa Kutapatti (wife of the arrested alleged Left Wing Extremist Shrinivas Kutapatti) was released. They were detained for interrogation by Kamrej Police of the Surat rural Police station on May 31.

Police filed 1800 page charge sheet against 11 suspected Left Wing Extremists (LWEs) in a local court at Kosad village near Surat city. They include Niranjan Mohapatra, K. N. Singh, Maka Chaudhary, Avinash Kulkarni, Ramu Puwar, Bharat Puwar, Sulat Puwar, Jayram Goswami, Satyam Rao, Vishwanath Iyer and Surya Dewra Prabhakar. They are allegedly linked with mainly the CPI-Maoist and CPI-ML-Janashakti. All the accused have been booked under various sections of the (Indian Penal Code) IPC including criminal conspiracy (120B), waging war against government (121A), Sedition (124A) and promoting enmity between different groups (153A), according to the chargesheet. They have also been booked under the section of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since February 2010.

After Sulat Puwar, one of the 14 arrested Naxals [Left Wing Extremists] getting bail, five others had also applied for bail in Surat. Their application was to come up for hearing on July 27, but had been rescheduled to August 2. The five applicants were Vinayak Keshavrao Kulkarni alias Madhav alias Avinash, resident of Navapur Road, Ahwa; Jayram Hilal Goswami, resident of Nishal Faliyu, Tarsadi, Songadh; Kamakhya Narayan Singh Chauhan, Vaduj Dgav, Mohal, Solapur, Maharashtra; Bharat Mansukh Puwar, Missionpada, Ahwa; and Maka Gangaji Chaudhary, Mandvi. The accused, in their applications, said that they were arrested out of suspicion and the Police do not have enough evidence to prove the charges against them. The accused claimed that they are engaged in tribal welfare activities and are in no way connected with the Naxal movement.

A suspected woman cadre of the CPI-Maoist, identified as Sujatha was arrested in Mangrol town in Surat District. She hails from Andhra Pradesh but lived in Mumbai till 2002. Reportedly she was in close contact with top Maoist leaders, and had been a frequent visitor to Gujarat and was entrusted with the responsibility of strengthening the Maoist network in the state, the Police said.

October 1

The Surat Crime Branch arrested a person, suspected to be a bomb-maker for the CPI-Maoist, from the Udhna area. The Police said accused Uttam Pradhan alias Khandi Prasanna Pradhan (22) of Ganjam District of Orissa was involved in Maoist activities in Orissa and has seven cases related to explosives and arms, and a non-bailable warrant registered against him. He was also involved in a bank robbery in Khansa in Orissa a few months ago.