Pune cops search Stan Swami's house in Ranchi, seize gadgets

Pune police conducted a search at social activist Father Stan Swami's residence at Ranchi in Jharkhand on Wednesday and claimed to have seized some "electronic devices and other material".

According to the police, the raid was conducted as part of the ongoing probe in the Elgar Parishad case in which nine activists were earlier arrested for their alleged links with Maoists.

"Our team conducted a search at Swami's residence in Ranchi as part of the ongoing probe into the Elgar Parishad case. So far, we have seized some electronic devices and other material from his residence," a senior police official said.

Swami has not been detained so far, he added.

During nationwide searches in August last year, the Pune police raided Swami's house also and recovered some material then.

The case pertains to the Elgar Parishad conclave in Maharashtra's Pune district on December 31, 2017, which, the police allege, was funded by Maoists.

The speeches made by some activists at the conclave "aggravated" the violence near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune the next day, according to the police charge sheet.

The Pune police earlier filed a charge-sheet against the nine activists - Sudhir Dhavale, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson, Vara Vara Rao, Arun Ferriera, Sudha Bharadwaj and Vernon Gonzalves.

The charge sheet also named absconding Maoist leaders Dipak alias Milind Teltumbade, Kishan Da alias Prashant Bose, Prakash alias Rituparn Goswami, and CPI (Maoist) general secretary Ganapathy alias Chandrashekhar.

The accused were charged with "waging war against the nation" and spreading the ideology of their banned organisation and creating caste conflicts, disaffection, and hatred in the society.

The stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was also slapped on all the accused, the police said.