NIA raids senior journalists residence in Hyderabad

Ultra-Left wingers of Telangana were in for a major shock when NIA sleuths descended on the residence of senior journalist and editor of ultra-Left monthly Veekshanam N Venugopal early on Thursday. The sleuths questioned Venugopal for several hours and conducted searches in his residence. He is No 22 accused in the case pertaining to the Maoist conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The raids came close on the heels of the arrest of the CPI Maoist central committee member Deepak from Kukatpalli a few days ago. N Venugopal is the nephew of famed Maoist supporter and Virasam founder P Vara Vara Rao. He is closely associated with the Left movements in the Telugu states and Maharashtra. Varavara Rao himself is on bail due to his advancing age in connection with the case.

A case was registered against Varavara Rao, Gowtham Lavlakha, Catholic priest Stan Swamy and several others on charges of conspiring to dethrone the Modi government and assassinate him. Varavara was in jail for quite a long period and secured a bail only recently. Venugopal has been included as Accused No 22 in the case. However, Venugopal denied any involvement in the case.

He said that the police and the NIA was trying to intimidate the people who held contrarian opinions. Venugopal said that he was not involved in any conspiracy and did not believe in such conspiracies. He said the whole case was fabricated.