Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday conducted simultaneous raids on 12 premises in West Bengal, including one in Kolkata, belonging to people allegedly linked to Maoists, an official source said. Raids were conducted in the south Kolkata’s Netaji Nagar area, along with Panihati, Barrackpore and Sodepur in North 24 Parganas district which are on the outskirts of Kolkata, Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district and several other places in West Bengal in connection with alleged links of two women and their associates with Maoists, he said.
“These women had allegedly siphoned off funds sent to them for spreading Maoist networks in eastern India. These raids are under way to find out the exact roles these people were playing in the Maoist organisation,” the source said. Police during the ongoing raids. In Asansol, they were conducting search operations at the residence of a researcher, with whom the two women had been in touch.
Funds were channelised to and from these people to the Maoists in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. We are trying to find out these links,” sources said, adding that these two women were working with some NGOs helping miners get their dues.
Several documents were seized during the raids, he added.
