HYDERABAD: Cases under the anti-terror law – Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) – and sedition have been registered against rights activist and former professor of the University of Hyderabad G Haragopal and 151 others.
While the cases were registered on August 19, 2022, in Tadwai police station in Mulugu district, the matter came to light ‘accidentally’ on Thursday, when Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) president Chandramouli applied for bail in Rangareddy court.
Chandramouli was arrested in a case two months ago and had applied for bail. Hearing his bail petition, the Rangareddy court directed officials to furnish all the FIRs against Chandramouli. Among the FIRs against Chandramouli, one had the names of Prof Haragopal and others.
The cases against Prof Haragopal included damaging assets under the leadership of Maoist Party Central Committee member Pulluru Prasad; trying to pull down the State government; recruiting innocent people into the Maoist party, and others.Prof Gaddam Laxman, former Mumbai court judge Suresh, Prof Padmaja Shaw and Chikkudu Prabhakar and others are among 152 accused.
Following a tip-off that Maoists were holding a meeting at Berelli village on August 19, 2022, the police started combing operations. While the Maoists escaped from the village, the police found the names of Prof Haragopal and others in the books left behind by the Maoists. Following this, they registered cases against 152 persons.
“My name figuring in the FIRs is not the problem. The saddest part is that the names of 151 others were included in the FIR. I know that all of them have some social concern and are moral forces of society. Finding such people implicated in the cases is a sad reflection on the government, which is organising decayed (decade) celebrations of State formation,” Prof Haragopal told TNIE.
He said that he came to know about a case against him ‘accidentally’. On his name being linked to Maoists, Prof Harago-pal said: “The police are known for their fiction. An honorary doctorate can be given to police as they are the best fiction writers. This is very unfortunate.”