Bihar: NIA raids jailed Maoist leaders' associates in four districts

PATNA: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday raided various locations related to top CPI (Maoist) activist Vijay Arya and his associates Rajesh Gupta and Umesh Chaudhary in four districts of Bihar - Patna, Gaya, Aurangabad and Rohtas - in a case related to the recruitment and levy collection by the CPI(Maoist).
An NIA official said the case was registered on April 12 at Rohtas police station and later re-registered by the NIA on April 26. Arya was arrested in April this year from Samhauta village in Rohtas district. He is currently lodged in Beur jail in Patna.
Gupta and Chaudhary, both residents of Samhauta village, are also behind bars. Arya is a resident of Karma village under Konch police station area in Gaya district. A postgraduate in economics from Magadh University, Arya was a teacher before he joined the rebel outfit.
In Patna, the raid started early in the morning at the residence of Arya's son between AG Colony and CID Colony. The NIA sleuths raided the house with support from the local police. Patna SSP Manavjeet Singh Dhillon said they also provided logistic support to the NIA team.
Another NIA team raided the location of Arya's daughter Shobha Devi at Mahesh Parasi village in Aurangabad district. Shobha is a member of Aurangabad District Board.
The NIA team first surrounded her house and then raided it around 5am. The NIA sleuths also conducted raids at Karma village in Gaya. Arya's wife Kiran Devi said the NIA sleuths arrived at the house around 5am and searched the entire premises for nearly five hours.
Sources said the NIA sleuths seized some documents, a cellphone and other materials from Arya's house. Raids were also conducted at the house of the in-laws of Arya's another daughter Sudha Kumari under Manoharpur police station area in Gaya.
Many cases are lodged against Arya at the different police stations in the state, including Gurua, Tekari, Paraiya, Imamganj, Dumaria, Rohtas, Barsoi, Raushanganj, Banke Bazar, Warisaliganj and Dhangai police stations.
(With inputs from Premendra Mishra in Aurangabad & Alok Kumar in Gaya)