Varavara Rao, Surendra Gadling arrested in mine arson case
Rao and Gadling were lodged in Yerawada jail following their arrest in the Elgar Parishad case, being probed by the Pune police.
Mumbai: Telugu poet Varavara Rao, accused of having Maoist links, and advocate Surendra Gadling were arrested in connection with the 2016 Surajgarh iron mine arson case, the Gadchiroli police said Friday.
On December 25, 2016, Naxals torched at least 80 vehicles engaged in transporting iron from the Surajgarh mines in the Etapalli tehsil of Gadchiroli.
The Gadchiroli police Wednesday took custody of Rao and Gadling from the city’s Yerawada jail and produced them in the Aheri court in Gadchiroli Thursday. The duo had been arrested in connection with a case registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) related to the 2016 Maoist attack at Surajgarh.
Rao and Gadling were lodged in Yerawada jail following their arrest in the Elgar Parishad case, being probed by the Pune police.
A senior police officer associated with the Elgar Parishad investigation confirmed the development to this newspaper and said that a team of the Gadchiroli police had approached the special UAPA court in Pune
with a transfer warrant issued by the special UAPA court in the district for producing Rao and Gadling before it in connection with the Surajgarh case.
“The Pune court allowed their plea, following which, Rao and Gadling’s custody was taken from the Yerawada jail. They are being moved to Nagpur and onwards to Aheri, where they would be produced on Saturday,” the officer said.
“The two have been remanded in police custody till February 11. We have evidence of the duo’s involvement in this case,” he added.