KOCHI: A court in Kochi has granted permission to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to interrogate a Maoist activist who turned approver in a 2016 armed training case in which slain Maoist leader Vikram Gowda is an accused.
The permission was granted by the NIA court in Kochi to question Savitha alias Shobha of Edur, Hosanagra, Shimoga, Karnataka to get more information about recently arrested Maoist group members.
Savitha was the 20th accused in the case first registered at Malappuram Edakkara police station in connection with armed training held at Nilambur forest, three kilometres away from Mundakadavu colony between September 23 and September 30, 2016.
NIA took over the probe in 2021 and arraigned more Maoist activists who were active in forest areas of Kerala until recently. Currently, there are 28 accused persons in the case including Kalidas, Vikram Gowda, Soman, Kuppu Devaraj and Rajan Chittilappilly.
Savitha was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Q branch in 2020. NIA recorded her arrest in the Nilambur armed training case in 2021. Later, she was turned an approver by the national agency. Savitha helped NIA in identifying Maoist activists like Aneesh Babu alias Thambi, Iyyappan alias Hari and Ramesh alias Tamil Nadu Ramesh. This year, the Kerala police arrested more Maoist activists including Srimathi B P, Thiruvengadam P, Aneesh Babu and Soman.
Considering the relevance of jail interrogation, the court allowed NIA to question Savitha for two days before November 30.