‘Naxal hand in formation of Telangana’

Mumbai: A chargesheet submitted to a city court by the Maharashtra ATS aga-nst eight arrested naxal operatives claimed that documents seized from the accused carried claims of having contributed, via mass mobilisation and spreading awareness, to the formation of the Telangana state in 2014. The documents named 46 social outfits, in and around Mumbai, which purportedly contributed to the cause of setting up a separate Telangana state.

According to defence lawyers Arif Siddiqui and Arun Ferreira, the ATS has mentioned that the documents allegedly seized from the accused speak about separate Telangana to show that these social activities done by arrested accused were “with criminal intent.” “In IPC such social activities are not criminalised but under UAPA the agency can claim any social activity was done with criminal intent and hence this is why they might have made these documents part of the chargesheet,” said advocate Ferreira, adding that he would be able to make a comment on this after reading the chargesheet thoroughly.

The document, which spoke about the efforts of accused and many others in Mumbai for a separate Telangana are in Telugu and a professor’s help was taken to translate
them. It tells the story of the Telangana people from the era of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

According to the translation, which is part of chargesheet, due to poor financial conditions the people of Telangana were forced to travel to Mumbai seeking jobs. It also spoke about a public meeting held in 1969 in Worli to solve the problems faced by Telangana people.

The document said that later, many meetings were held in places like Antop Hill, Wadala, Sion and Azad Maidan etc as part of the efforts for a separate Telangana. Apart from this issue their organisation also worked for welfare and rights of slum dwellers and rail accident victims.

The ATS has also seized documentary made on people who laid down their lives for a separate Telangana state.