Ranchi-based human rights activist Father Stan Swamy was arrested by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case on Friday.
Swamy, 83, has previously denied involvement in the case. He was taken into custody by the agency for questioning on Thursday. “Yes, we had called Stan Swamy today for questioning and he is currently being questioned at the NIA office in Ranchi about his role,” an official said Thursday on condition of anonymity.
The chances are high that Swamy will be arrested early Friday morning, he added.
“Stan Swamy is a member of CPI (Maoist) and actively participates in its activities. He also received funding through a partner to promote the activities of the CPI (Maoist). He is the convener of the PPSC, front organizations of the CPI (Maoist). Documents related to communications to promote CPI (Maoist) activities and CPI (Maoist) propaganda material and literature were confiscated from him, ”said another official.
Furthermore, he was found to be in contact with some of the conspirators, namely Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde etc. for the development of their activities, “he added.
Swamy was interrogated for two hours on August 7 in Ranchi and was then summoned to the NIA office in Mumbai for further questioning in the case relating to an Elgar Parishad event on December 31, 2017.
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