Picture Courtesy Wikipedia
The Pune police, as per reports, claimed that they have stumbled upon a letter which allegedly talks of a plot to assassinate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a similar way Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a road show in 1991 at Sriperumbudur near Chennai.
The Police in this connection have arrested Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen, and Rona Wilson from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi. The arrests, as per reports, were made in connection with ‘Elgar Parishad’, which the police believe was backed and funded by the banned (CPI) Maoist outfit. It was further confirmed that all five arrested were produced before a court which remanded them in police custody until 14th June.
The prosecutor, as reported, placing evidence to the court alleged that it also showed that money (read funds) were also being provided by the CPI (Maoist) to one ‘comrade Sudhir’ for the Koregaon Bhima ‘task’ and ‘Comrades Shoma and Surendra’ had the task to provide funds for future anti-national activities.
Furthermore, the investigating officers also claimed they had apprehended communications from the seized laptops of one of the arrested that purportedly states that ‘PM Modi has successfully established BJP government in more than fifteen Indian states… if this pace continues, then it would mean immense trouble for the Maoists party on all fronts’.
However, the accused have vehemently denied the charges and pleading on their behalf the defence lawyer said that the letter and other documents were fabricated and they, the accused, were framed.
In another development, according to reports, Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, has complained to the state police that he has received two letters of threat that came in after the recent anti-Naxal operations held in Gadchiroli where around thirty nine Maoists were killed.
Responding to the PM’s assassination plot, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh opined, “We are always concerned about our PM’s security. Maoism and extremism has now been reduced by many folds.” He also stressed, “They are just fighting a lost battle.”
Speaking on the banned outfit’s presence the Home Minister stated, “At present, the Maoist insurgency affects just 10 districts and it will end soon as has been done in the Northeast where insurgent violence has been contained and brought down by 85 per cent.”
Distancing itself from the incident the Indian National Congress, as per reports, termed the comments and claims made by the police as ‘premature’ and went on to state that the police should have refrained from realising such sensitive information.
However, eminent personalities, like Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, Spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, artistes Sonal Mansingh and Malini Awasthi voiced their concern on the recent developments of the assassination plot and emphasised on the need to unite the populace and fight the forces that were trying to break the country. They expressed their concern in their social-media handle Twitter.
