The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted searches at Malappuram and Palakkad in connection with a case involving Sanjay Deepak Rao, a central committee member of CPI (Maoist), who was arrested by Telangana Police in Hyderabad in September 2023.
Multiple locations in Telangana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu too were raided by the anti-terror agency. According to its spokesperson, premises associated with the accused and suspects were searched. These include two in Hyderabad and one each in Thane (Maharashtra) and Chennai.
The agency conducted extensive searches, leading to the seizure of incriminating documents and books related to the proscribed CPI (Maoist) outfit. Six mobile phones with SIM cards and Rs 1,37,210 cash were also seized, the official said.
The case was originally registered by Cyberabad Police in Telangana following Rao's arrest. The police had at the time seized a revolver with live rounds apart from forged Aadhaar cards, cash of Rs 47,280 and other materials from his possession.
The NIA, which took over the case in January 2024, found during investigations that Rao was actively working for the banned Naxal organisation in the tri-junction area of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the official said.
Under Sanjay's directions, other frontline members of the CPI (Maoist) were operating in the urban areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala to promote the activities of the outfit, the agency said.
Further investigations in the case are continuing, it added. In Hyderabad, the NIA officials also raided the residences of a journalist and another person.
