Maoist recruitment: Telangana HC lawyer among 3 held

The lawyer, identified as Chukka Shilpa, was arrested in connection with a case the agency registered on June 3 with regard to recruitment of a college student in the Maoist outfit. The other two accused have been identified as Dongari Devendra and Dubasi Swapna.

The agency also conducted searches at three locations Ranga Reddy, Medak and Secunderabad districts in connection with the case. “During the searches conducted today, incriminating materials including digital devices have been seized,” NIA said in a statement.

According to the NIA, leaders and members of Chaitanya Mahila Sangham (CMS), an alleged frontal organisation of the CPI (Maoist), were involved in recruitment of youth into the outfit. The case was initially registered on January 3, by the Andhra Pradesh Police and later taken over by the central agency.

About three and half years ago, a college student, identified as Radha, went missing from her home in Visakhapatnam. In January this year, her mother lodged a complaint with the Visakhapatnam police that leaders of CMS had met her in her college and influenced her to join CPI (Maoist). Following this, the police had registered an FIR.

It was alleged that Devendra had taken away the woman, a nursing student, on the pretext of providing medical treatment to someone in December 2017. She never returned. Her family later learnt that she had joined the Maoist outfit.