Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Chhatradhar Mahato, on Monday, tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of his hearing today at National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Kolkata.
NIA had prayed for his custodial interrogation in connection with the 11-year-old case of the 2009 murder of CPM leader Prabir Mahato. At the time, Mahato was the convener of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), which was known as a frontal organisation of CPI (Maoist).
Special Court judge Prasenjit Biswas said the plea would be taken up on Monday after Mahato did not appear in court, complaining of illness after which today he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Reports state that the PCAPA murdered CPI(M) leader Prabir Mahato in Lalgarh’s Dharampur village on June 14, 2009. It controlled the area at the height of Maoist presence in the Jangalmahal region, of which Lalgarh is a part.
According to a report in the Indian Express, on September 28, 2009, an undercover operation was also carried out in which policemen posed as journalists and arrested Mahato. He was then charged under the UAPA, and convicted in May 2012. Four months later, the Calcutta High Court granted Mahato the status of political prisoner along with eight other activists.
Mahato, who is currently in his fifties, was released from prison on bail on February 1, ending his 11-year term behind bars. The NIA has also questioned Mahato in connection with the hijacking of a New Delhi-bound Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express by the Maoists in October 2009. The TMC leader has claimed that the NIA investigation into his alleged role in these two cases is “politically motivated”.
Source: dnaindia.com