NEW DELHI: The anti-terror federal probe agency, NIA has arrested a key accused, who has been found to be actively involved in recruitment and funds collection for the banned CPI (Maoist), officials said.
The accused, identified as Ajay Singhal alias Aman, a native of Haryana’s Sonipat district and currently residing in SAS Nagar, Punjab, was arrested on Saturday following multi-state raids conducted by the agency on Friday.
The officials said that the investigation revealed Singhal was in charge of the state organising committee of the CPI (Maoist) in Haryana. He was also actively involved in reviving the activities of the banned organisation in the Northern Regional Bureau (NRB) states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh.
The NIA investigators also learnt that Singhal had been visiting Jharkhand and Bihar to collect funds from CPI (Maoist) central committee member Pramod Mishra alias Vanbihari and Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee commander/secretary Sandeep Yadav, the officials said.
On Friday, the NIA conducted searches at several locations in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh in connection with the case involving concerted attempts by leaders, cadres, and sympathisers/overground workers of the CPI (Maoist) to re-energise its influence as part of their anti-India agenda.
During the raids, the investigative teams seized several digital devices (laptop, mobile phones, pen drives, compact discs, hard drives, memory cards), SIM cards, and pocket diaries, the official added.