CPI Maoist leader Kobad Gandhi sent to 14 days judicial custody

The Hindu Maoist Central Committee member, Kobad Ghandy, who was arrested in Delhi on Sunday. Photo: New Delhi: Kobad Gandhi, a top leader of CPI (Maoist), who is in charge of spreading the organisation’s influence in urban areas, was today sent to 14 days judicial custody by a Delhi Court.

Gandhi, arrested here yesterday, was remanded to judicial custody for a day by a duty magistrate. He was produced before chief judicial magistrate Kaveri Baweja who extended his judicial remand till October 6.

The Maoist leader who was apprehended by the special cell of the Delhi police on Sunday night was produced before the CMM after a medical check-up as he had complained of a cardiac problem.

The court in its order said Gandhi, 63, should be provided necessary medical treatment during his custody. Police said Gandhi was in-charge of a CPI(Maoist) committee on mass organisations, spreading its influence in urban areas and publication wing. They said he was also in touch with ultra left organisations abroad to get international recognition for his party. His wife Anuradha, also a top Maoist leader, died of malaria in April this year.

Arrested Maoist leader frequently visited Delhi

NEW DELHI: A day after top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandi was arrested here, police Tuesday said he was a frequent visitor to the national capital and his interrogation may reveal a lot. Ghandi, who was produced before a city judge, is cooling his heels in the capital’s highly secured Tihar jail. He has been sent to 14 days judicial custody.

“He is definitely a prize catch and this is the first time such a senior Maoist leader has been arrested here. But we have not been able to interrogate him at length yet. So far we only know that he was frequent (in visiting) the national capital and had come three-four days ago,” a senior police officer associated with the investigations told IANS.

“We will seek his police custody and interrogate him about his purpose and activities in the capital. His arrest might lead to apprehending of his accomplices. He will also be questioned on whether Left extremists have set up a base in Delhi and are planning some activity,” the official added.

Police said Ghandi, 60, is among the key policymakers of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist). He was primarily tasked to spread the base organisation in urban areas. Ghandi, a politburo member of the organisation, was caught by the Special Cell of Delhi Police Monday at Bhikaji Cama Place in south Delhi following intelligence inputs. He was also believed to be in touch with extreme Left organisations abroad to get international recognition for his party.

Ghandi was brought up in an upper middle class Parsi family in Mumbai and studied chartered accountancy in London before joining the movement, police said. He has been associated with Maoists for the past three decades and is a senior ideologue and recruiter for the organisation.

Kobad Ghandy’s arrest: Major blow to Maoist movement

The arrest of top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy in Delhi on Sunday will have a strong impact on naxalite movement in India, especially in South Indian states, where the ultra left revoltuionary party is trying to gain a stronghold, having consolidated its position in Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

That such an important naxalite leader had been operating from the national capital for the last one and half years was itself a rude shock to the intelligence agencies which helped Delhi police nab him. Ghandy had been liasing with revolutioanry parties in Belgium, Peru, Philippines, Turkey, Germany and Nepal.

The 63-year-old leader was in charge of the South Western Regional Bureau (SWRB) coordinating the naxalite activity in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, where rebel activity remained stagnant despite herculean efforts made by the Maoist party. Taking into consideration his ability to analyse the national and international developmetns, he was also entrusted with the job of building up the naxal movement in urban areas.

Ghandy is stated to have admitted that despite the rapid spread of the naxalite movement in Central and North India, it failed to strike roots in other states. Even in Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, the rebel party failed to win over people in plain areas and in towns, while the movement was getting strengthened in tribal belts. With the Maoist party realising that it was consistently failing in garnering support from the middle class and the intellectual sections of society, it had asked Ghandy to devise strategies and identify issues that could win over these two sections. For this purpose, Maoists had formed a Sub-Committee on Mass Organisations (SUCOMO) and Ghandy was heading it.

Though the naxalite movement began in Maharashtra in Gadchiroli division abutting Andhra Pradesh three decades ago, it had failed to spread to other areas. In Kerala also the naxalite party had failed to make much of an impact. Karnataka where the movement was relatively strong just a decade ago, had seen a split in the rank and file of Maoists after a section of leaders leaders questioned the very principle of area wise seizure of power starting from forest areas. Ever since the split, the Maoist party failed to strike roots in this state.

In Tamil Nadu, the Maoist think tank had been trying to get a foothold in districts abutting Andhra Pradesh and Kerala but instant response from the police agencies had halted the spread of the Maoist movement. The exchange of fire near Theni river in Tamil Nadu two years ago forced the Maoist party to slow down on its plans. The Hindu