PUNE: Police on Thursday named top Maoist leader Muppala Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathy as a key conspirator in a supplementary chargesheet filed in a special UAPA court against activist-writer-poet P Varavara Rao and three others in the Elgar Parishad case.Activists Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj were the other three chargesheeted on Thursday.“From the seized evidence, it has been established that Rao is a senior leader of the banned CPI (Maoist) organization,” stated the 1,837-page supplementary chargesheet that investigating officer ACP Shivaji Pawar filed.“Rao and other accused were in contact with Ganapathy — also known by aliases ‘GS’, ‘Chandrashekhar’ and ‘Com G’ — and actively strived for fulfilling the Maoist objectives. Rao was working towards raising and distributing funds on behalf of the CPI (Maoist),” the chargesheet stated.Ganapathy (72) stepped down as the CPI (Maoist) general secretary in November last year. Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavraj (63) replaced him.On August 28 last year, the Pune police had arrested Rao, Bharadwaj, Ferreira, Gonsalves and activist Gautam Navlakha during simultaneous raids in Hyderabad, Faridabad, Thane, Mumbai and Delhi, among other places. The Delhi high court later quashed and set aside Navlakha’s arrest. The remaining four are lodged in Yerawada central jail with activists Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut, arrested in the case on June 6.The supplementary chargesheet stressed on Rao’s alleged unlawful activities in connivance with Gadling and Wilson to further the Maoist conspiracy to create social unrest, domestic chaos and overthrow governments through violent means. “Rao, along with Ferreira, Gonsalves, Bharadwaj and other accused, worked towards executing this pre-planned conspiracy,” the chargesheet stated.Their alleged activities included acquiring weapons and ammunition for committing terror acts; providing vital information to underground Maoist operatives about the movement of security forces and facilitating violence against the forces; mobilizing Dalits, tribals, religious minorities against the government and promoting and spreading the Maoist agenda and ideology, among others, the chargesheet stated.“Rao, Wilson and other accused conspired with CPI (Maoist)’s eastern regional bureau (ERB) secretary and central committee member Kishanda alias Prashanto Bose and actively participated in acquiring weapons and ammunition to facilitate terror strikes,” the chargesheet said. “Rao, Gadling and other accused facilitated violence against security forces by providing information about the latter’s movements to the underground Maoist operatives,” it stated.The chargesheet further stated, “Gonsalves, Ferreira and Bharadwaj and other accused facilitated recruitment of members for the banned organization and actively worked towards promoting and spreading the Maoist thoughts and ideology. Ferreira, Bharadwaj and Gadling are members of Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), a frontal organization of the Maoists, and carried out various unlawful activities through these frontal organizations.”“The Maoist conspiracy was also revealed from a written communication on January 2, 2018, between CPI (Maoist) leader Milind Teltumbde and Rona Wilson and the same referred to the ERB’s agenda for a meet held from December 21 to 24, 2015, for mobilizing Dalits, women, tribals and minorities against the government,” the chargesheet stated.It stated, “Documents recovered from Wilson, Gadling and Rao established that Rao, Ferreira, Gonsalves and Bharadwaj were active members of the CPI (Maoist). Wilson and Gadling distributed funds provided by the banned organization for facilitating violent and terrorist activities and the four activists constantly strived for continuing with the unlawful activities. The four activists were also involved in underground activities through frontal organizations.”The chargesheet stated, “Rao is the president of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), a banned frontal organization, of which convicted JNU professor G N Saibaba was a secretary. Rao, along with Sen, Mahesh Raut, underground Maoist leader Prakash alias Naveen alias Rituparno Goswami and other accused were present at a national conference organized by the RDF. Investigation also revealed that Rao provided funds to the Persecuted Prisoners’ Solidarity Committee, another frontal organization of which Bharadwaj is a key functionary.”It added, “Rao, Wilson and Gadling, in conspiracy with the CPI (Maoist) politburo and central committee members and underground operatives, roped in Gonsalves, Ferreira and Bharadwaj for exchange of communication, organizing meetings and implementing unlawful objectives of the banned organization.”

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