An alleged urban area commander of the CPI (Maoist) was arrested by a special team of the Uttar Pradesh police from the Ramesh Nagar area of west Delhi. The alleged Maoist, Varanasi, was held from the Ramesh Nagar Metro station on June 16 around 7 pm while he was trying to board the Metro train to Connaught Place Metro station, confirmed a reliable source in the Uttar Pradesh police.
Sources have confirmed that Varanasi has been taken to Badayun in west Uttar Pradesh for sustained interrogation. Sources in the UP police also confirmed that Varanasi is likely to be questioned on the allegations of trying to create a sleeper cell in Uttar Pradesh. However, the senior police officers have refused to reveal more details on the investigation. “It is too early to reveal anything. We don’t want the investigation process to be hampered,” said a senior UP police officer under condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, sources have also pointed out that there is a possibility that Varanasi was in touch with 40-year-old Abdul Shakir Pasha, who was arrested earlier this month from the sector 6 area of R.K. Puram for alleged links with the CPI (Maoist). Pasha was apprehended by the Delhi police’s special cell and is now under a judicial custody. “It is believed that Varanasi and Pasha have been in touch for over a decade,” said a senior police officer.
Pasha, who allegedly used several names to conceal his identity, was running an NGO for the homeless in Delhi at Katwaria Sarai for the past one year. He is originally from Mumbai. Sources in the Gujarat ATS and Surat police claimed that Pasha was the area committee secretary of Surat.