Hyderabad: NIA held three persons for allegedly kidnapping Nursing student

Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency has arrested three persons for allegedly involved in kidnapping a medical student and accused them of indoctrinating her to join the Maoists. 

The New Indian Express reports that the three persons were identified as Dongari Devendra, Dubasi Swapna, and Chukka Shilpa, who were arrested after the officials performed a raid on their respective residences in Rangareddy, Medak districts, and Secunderabad.

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The complaint was lodged by the student's mother, Pallepati Pochamma, a resident of Saibaba Colony in Kapra, Hyderabad, with the NIA stating that her daughter Radha was kidnapped three years ago by Chaitanya Mahila Sangham (CMS), a frontal organization of CPI (Maoist). 

According to her complaint, she alleged that her daughter was brainwashed by the CMS members and was eventually taken to the Peddabayalu forest area in Vishakapatnam to join the Maoists. 

Her complaint states, "My younger daughter Radha was doing the nursing course. Leaders of CMS, Dongari Devendra, Dubasi Swapna, Chukka Shilpa, and others used to visit my daughter's college and the ideology of Maoism was indoctrinated into her mind." 

Earlier, the NIA officials were reported to be conducting inspections at Chilukanagar in Uppal and raided the house of High Court Advocate Shilpa, one of the accused, along with seizing several documents, reports the Hans India. The authorities claimed that they were conducting searches at three locations simultaneously. They searched in Chegunta in the Medak district for Maoist leader Shankar's son. 

A few sources said that CMS leaders identified as Dongari Devendra, Dubasi Swapna, and Chukka Shilpa (who is a High Court advocate) used to visit her daughter's college to influence her to join the Maoists. It was alleged that the Maoist leaders took away her daughter in December 2017 on the pretext of providing medical treatment to someone, following which she never returned, reports TNIE. The mother said, "Since then, she has not returned home. After nine months, I came to know that my daughter has joined the outlawed Maoist party and working along with Maoist top leaders Uday and Aruna in the forest area of Peddabayalu in Visakhapatnam district."

After joining the group, Radha is reported to be working within the top brass. NIA said that Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, Secretary of Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zone Committee (AOBSZC), Devendra, Swapna, and Shilpa are the accused in Radha's kidnap case.

The FIR issued by the NIA on June 3 states, "The CMS leaders conspired, conducted meetings unlawfully and recruited Radha in Maoist ranks. Devendra kidnapped Radha and wrongfully confined her in the interior forest areas to work with the top brass of Maoists." Further, it claims in the FIR, "A scheduled offense under the NIA Act has been committed with ramifications on national security."

An official press release stated, "The case was initially registered as FIR No.01/2022 dated 03.01.2022 at Peddabayalu PS, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. NIA had re-registered the case on 03.06.2022 and taken over the investigation." The case was registered under kidnapping, wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal conspiracy, and various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, reports the Times of India. 

The initial FIR was registered against the Maoists by the Visakhapatnam police, which was subsequently taken up by the NIA. The ministry of home affairs issued orders on May 31 asking the officials to take over the case from the Peddabayulu police. The police FIR alleged, "CMS members visit colleges, schools, and hostels and deliver lectures to poor women on empowerment assuring that they will provide employment and induce them to join the Maoist party."

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