Shoma Sen addressing a press conference in Nagpur.

NAGPUR: The controversy over alleged pressure from security agencies to call off a meeting to express solidarity with incarcerated Prof Shoma Sen , suspended as head of the department of English, Nagpur University, got a fresh twist after a letter, allegedly from Central Committee (CC) of banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) surfaced that mentions her name.

The letter dated June 8, 2017, is learnt to have been recovered by Pune Police from computer of city-based Advocate Surendra Gadling, that reveals Sen was tasked to ensure a Maoist frontal organization ‘Centre for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR)’ was strengthened in urban centres. Police source said the letter, likely penned by CC member Milind Teltumbde and addressed to Gadling, was found in encrypted form and recovered by cyber experts. Police said Sen’s name could be found repeatedly in different communications of top Maoist cadres and committees making her involvement in the movement obvious.

The letter’s content also suggest Sen had special instruction from party leadership in Maharashtra to boost the radical student unions in Nagpur, Chandrapur and Gondia regions. The writer of the letter, endorsing the views of ‘Comrade Anand’, stated the ‘participation of students in CPDR work must be intensified’. The letter writer also wanted the party cadres must put special focus on ‘AGM meet’, which police believe is to be ‘ Anuradha Ghandy Memorial’ in October last year which was also observed by the reds as 50th year of the Naxalbari movement, considered the genesis of the guerrilla movement.

Pune police had in June this year arrested Sen, Gadling and Mahesh Raut from Nagpur, Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai and Rona Wilson from Delhi for their alleged involvement in organizing Elgaar Parishad that had led to Koregaon Bhima clash on January 1 this year and subsequent agitations by Dalits across the state. The Elgaar Parishad is believed to be masterminded and funded by Maoist CC committee.

According to a senior personnel engaged in Koregaon Bhima case investigation, Sen and Gadling had both received money to the tune of a few lakhs from the apex body of Maoist organization. “There had been numerous deleted files in the hard disk of computer seized from Sen’s home that are in the process of being retrieved through cyber technologies. She had even received communications from CC body when her present husband Tusharkant Bhattacharya was arrested by Gujarat ATS,” said the senior cop.

“Once the files are restored, many facts about her involvement with Maoists would emerge and people trying to mislead police would face the music,” he said. The senior cop also mentioned the fact that Maoists’ mass organizations were trying to lure students of elite institutions as urban cadres and later to shift them to jungle warfare. “We already have proof of at least two students from Mumbai and Pune having turned into full time armed guerrillas through a few professors propagating the red ideology,” said the officer.

In the past, police had claimed that probe into Koregaon Bhima case had unearthed plans of Maoists to target PM Narendra Modi and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. Following the revelation, Fadnavis’ security has been scaled up.

