A local Gadchiroli Court has been given life sentence to Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, along with four others for having links with the Maoists and waging war against the country and supporting the ideology of the banned organisation.
Judge Suryakant Shinde sentenced Saibaba, Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Mahesh Tirkey and Pandu Narote to life while sixth person Vijay Tirke was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
They have been found guilty under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act dealing with conspiracy, being a member of terrorist gang or organisation and offences relating to support given to a terrorist organization Saibaba is currently out on bail.
In November 2016, final arguments had commenced in the predilection of the DU professor and the others in the Gadchiroli sessions court.
Saibaba, an English professor in Delhi’s Ram Lal Anand college was arrested from his residence in 2013 for having alleged Maoist links.
He was arrested soon after a JNU student Hemant Mishra, who was in police custody, revealed during interrogation that he was acting as a link between the DU professor and Maoists in the Abujmad forests of Chhattisgarh.
Judge SS Shinde convicted Saibaba under sections 13, 18, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which deals with conspiracy, being a member of terrorist gang or organisation and offences relating to support given to a terrorist organization. Saibaba is currently out on bail.
“Court has said these six people are guilty of ‘continuos offence’ and not a single event and because of them the district is facing Naxal violence for years,” Abhinav Deshmukh, SP, Gadchiroli said.
The prosecutions story was that Hem Mishra, Mahesh Tirki and Pandu Narote had gone inside the jungles and met wanted accused Narmada Akka, a top Maoist commander in the Gadchiroli area and from her they collected Rs 5 lakh that was to be delivered to Saibaba in Delhi to spread the Maoist ideology in the urban setting.
