The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday raided the premises of several human rights activists and a prominent woman farmer leader across four states in north India as part of its clampdown on the presence of “overground workers”
of Maoists.

The NIA move prompted allegations that the government was continuing with its crackdown on dissent and members of civil rights groups critical of its policies.

The four states where the raids took place are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh
and Delhi.

A source in the security establishment said: “The NIA investigations have revealed that several frontal organisations and student wings in these four states have been tasked with motivating and recruiting cadres, as well as propagating the Maoist ideology, with the aim of waging war against the government of India.”

A total of nine locations, linked with various accused and suspects in the case, were searched as part of the crackdown which included four locations in Punjab, two each in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and one in Delhi. “All these states, along with Himachal Pradesh, constitute the National Regional Bureau (NRB), which the terrorist organisation is aggressively targeting in a bid to re-energise itself,” the agency said.

These suspects were receiving funds for the propagation of CPI (Maoist) ideology from the erstwhile Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB) head Prashant Bose, the NIA said.

The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) — a body of civil rights activists and organisations — condemned the “intimidation” of human rights defenders and students by the NIA.

According to the CASR, the NIA on Friday raided the house of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Krantikari) general secretary Sukhwinder Kaur’s house at Sarabha Nagar in Bathinda, Punjab. Kaur is a prominent leader in the farmers’ protest at the Shambhu border.

In Chandigarh, the NIA raided the houses of advocates Aarti, Mandeep Singh and Ajay Kumar.

“These advocates have been working for the release of multiple political prisoners.... By intimidating the advocates, the state is ensuring that political prisoners do not have lawyers to represent them,” the CASR said.

The NIA also targeted a student organisation in Allahabad — the Inquillabi Chatra Morcha. Sleuths raided the house of a student activist, Devendra Azad.

In Sonipat, Haryana, the premises of advocate Pankaj Tyagi, a human rights defender, were raided.

“His house was searched by the NIA for three hours from 5am and he was abducted and taken to Sonipat police station. He was later released by the NIA, but he along with Devendra Azad has been called for further questioning, revealing that the NIA plans to continue intimidating these individuals,” the CASR said.