NIA ‘unravels’ Maoist arms programme

The chargesheet filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) against the five alleged Maoists, who were arrested from Kolkata in March this year, discloses important organisational details of the arms' research wing of the ultras that produced rocket launchers besides other weapons.

The probe agency has named Sadula Ramkrishnan alias Sadanala Ramkrishnan, 64, as the key man of the Maoist's Technical Development Committee, which was renamed as Technical Research Arms Manufacturing Unit (TRAM), and was responsible for manufacturing the weapons.

Ramkrishnan, originally a resident of Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh, was arrested by the Special Task Force of Kolkata Police with the help of Andhra Pradesh Police on March 1 this year. The others who were arrested include Dipak Kumar of Chhattisgarh, Sukumar Mondal, Sambhu Charan Pal and Bapi Mudi of West Bengal.

The NIA, which took over the probe later, filed the chargesheet in the case in the City Sessions court of Kolkata on Thursday. This is the first probe of NIA involving Maoists in West Bengal.

In its chargesheet, the NIA stated that its investigation helped them to unravel a supply route chain of arms and ammunition from the outfit's Kolkata workshop to Raipur in Chhattisgarh via Mumbai.

"Several diagrams and literature on rocket launchers and other weapons, documents connected with the transport of components and assembly tools and materials of arms and ammunition to Raipur in Chhattisgarh from Kolkata and Mumbai have been recovered. Also, several finished components of rocket launchers and other weapons, including 69 wooden crates kept at a godown in Raipur, have been recovered," said the chargesheet.

The chargsheet claimed recovering Rs 96,66,755 "as the proceeds of extortion", prohibited ammunition, explosive materials and Maoist literature.

The chargesheet said in 1994 the ultras, which had named its outfit CPI(ML) PW, had formed a Technical Development Committee (TDC) with the aim to coordinate its technical units to produce light weapons for combat. Ramakrishna was instrumental in forming the committee, according to the NIA. The agency stated that after the TDC failed to meet the expectations, a Central Technical Committee (CTC) was formed in July 2001, which was renamed as Technical Research Arms Manufacturing Unit (TRAM) in 2005.

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