Police being used to kill me legally: Kobad Ghandy

KOLKATA: Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy, who was rearrested on Saturday days after his release on bail, has issued a statement saying the police was being used ‘to kill him legally’ and the government would be responsible if anything happened to him in jail.

“It is clear the police methods are being used to kill me legally, given I am 71 years old and in very poor health. Since seven years they did not bother about this case, but in order to keep me in jail as an under trial indefinitely, they arrested me immediately on release,” the statement read.

The Jharkhand police had arrested Ghandy from Telangana on Saturday – three days after he was released on bail following an eight-year stint in various jails across the country.

Jharkhand police sources said Ghandy was wanted in two cases related to two separate Maoist attacks on security forces in 2007 and 2009, in which five and 11 personnel were killed respectively.

Ghandy, who attended the prestigious Doon School and Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College, had joined Maoist politics in the late 1960s. He was a Politburo member of the banned CPI(Maoist) when he was arrested from New Delhi in October 2009 on the charges of possessing arms and explosives to help the Maoists.

“On December 16, I was attending the Achempet Court, when the Jharkhand police arrested me and took me by flight to Ranchi,” Ghandy said.

The 71-year-old said he had undergone a medical check-up at a Hyderabad hospital after his release where the doctors recommended him a month of rest.

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“It is clear the police methods are being used to kill me legally, given I am 71 years old and in very poor health... If anything serious happens to my health in jail, I’ll hold government responsible. KOBAD GHANDY, Maoist ideologue

“If anything serious happens to my health in jail with this arrest, I will hold the government responsible. Given that I have been acquitted in all cases (against me), and most have been acquitted in this case (in Jharkhand), and my age and health condition, demand my immediate release.” Ghandy wrote.

Sources close to Ghandy said he had anticipated his re-arrest because of police’s ‘reluctance’ in producing him before the court in connection with the Jharkhand case when he was in jail, and had written the statement in advance.

Hyderabad-based N Venugopal Rao, an old associate of Ghandy who met him a day after his release, told HT: “He was anticipating a rearrest. After his release, even Gujarat police came down to Vishakhapatnam jail, informing the jail officials that Ghandy had a case pending against him in Gujarat as well.”