Jharkhand: Journalist arrested for Maoist links

Jharkhand Police spokesperson Amol V Homkar confirmed that Singh was arrested from his home in Ramgarh district. “He was arrested for his links with CPI (Maosit) leaders in the case that was registered against Maoist veteran Prashant Bose. There is no fresh FIR against him,” he said.

Incidentally, Singh’s name had appeared in the list of journalists who were targeted through the Pegasus spyware.

On November 12 last year, the police had arrested CPI (Maoist) central committee member Kishanda, who carried a reward of Rs 1 crore on his head, along with five others in the Kandra Police Station area of Saraikela. The FIR Station was registered under various IPC sections, including 420 (cheating), 467(forgery) and under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The search cum arrest warrant against Singh issued by a Saraikela-Kharsawan district court mentioned FIR number 67/2021, which is the same one that was lodged at Kandra Police Station.

Singh’s wife Satakshi, however, said the family was not told about the specific allegations. “Around 5.25 am, police personnel arrived and searched our house. In the search warrant FIR 67/2021 was mentioned. However, the police did not tell us on what allegation my husband has been arrested. They took away his laptop and even my younger sister’s laptop,” she said.