NIA searches in Uttar Pradesh and four states to thwart CPI (Maoist) revival efforts

LUCKNOW: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday conducted extensive searches at multiple locations across five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Bihar, in connection with a case related to the revival of the banned CPI (Maoist) group in the Northern Regional Bureau (NRB) region.
Searches were carried out at one location in Azamgarh, two locations in Punjab’s Patiala and Sri Muktsar Sahib, four in Haryana’s Manesar and Gurgaon, two in New Delhi, and one in Patna, Bihar. The suspects targeted in the raids are believed to be involved in promoting CPI (Maoist) ideology and reviving its NRB wing via frontal organisations. The NIA seized incriminating digital devices, including laptops, mobile phones, memory cards, and documents linked to Naxalism.
The case was registered by NIA’s Lucknow unit in January 2023 and is related to attempts by CPI (Maoist) leaders, cadres, sympathisers, and overground workers (OGWs) to re-energise the outfit’s decrepit influence in the NRB region, comprising UP, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. NIA investigations revealed that long-time associates and other OGWs of the outfit were being provided funds from the Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB), especially from Jharkhand, to recruit cadres and raise the front organisation in the northern states.
Further investigations revealed that several front organisations and student wings were tasked with identifying suitable recruits to work as underground cadres to wage war against the govt of India and to commit violent Naxal and terror acts. NIA is continuing with its further investigations in the case.