Nothing new in claims of Maha cops on proof about Maoist link: Rao's nephew

Hyderabad: The Maharashtra Police’s “conclusive proof” to link the arrested activists to Maoists and all the evidence is “cooked up”, a nephew of Telugu poet Varavara Rao claimed Saturday.

He said there was nothing new in the claims of the police.

“All this was said in June. It is nothing new. It is illegal to hold a press conference when the Supreme Court asked the evidence to be submitted on September 6,” Venugopal, a nephew of Varavara Rao told PTI.

He said the matter was sub-judice and termed it contempt of court.

“This police officer does not have a right to hold a press conference,” he said.

The police officer knew that the “evidence” was cooked up and he had gone to the press only to defame those arrested, he claimed.

The apex court asked him to give details to it and not to the press.

“It set one-week duration. Within the one week, he comes out to press, just to defame these people. This is trial by media, conducted by the police,” he said.

“I’m not going into merits and demerits of this evidence. That is not evidence… That is concocted, fabricated,” he said.

The Congress, the NCP and even the Shiv Sena had issued statements in June, saying the evidence being cited by the police were all cooked up and politically-motivated, Venugopal claimed.

The police Friday claimed they have “conclusive proof” to link Left-wing activists arrested in June and this week to Maoists, saying one of them spoke of a “Rajiv Gandhi-type event to end Modi-raj”.

An email between Rona Wilson, one of the arrested activists, and a Maoist leader, speaks of ending “Modi-raj” with a ‘Rajiv Gandhi-type incident’, Additional Director General (Law and Order) Parambir Singh had said in Mumbai.

On August 28, the Maharashtra Police had conducted searches in various cities and arrested five people, including Rao, for their alleged links with Maoists.

The houses of Varavara Rao, his two daughters and a journalist were searched in Hyderabad.