Osmania professor held for ‘Maoist links’, CJ slams police

HYDERABAD: Telangana police on Saturday arrested an associate professor of Osmania University from his official residence on the campus in an early morning raid in connection with a four-year-old Unlawful Activities Prevention Act case for alleged links with Maoist groups.
The arrest of Ch Kaseem upset Telangana high court Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan, who warned of a CBI probe against police for detaining people unlawfully in various cases.Justice Chauhan, after hearing an urgent plea at his home on Saturday afternoon along with Justice A Abhishek Reddy, ordered the police chiefs of Hyderabad and Siddipet to produce the professor at his residence by 10.30am on Sunday. He also asked whether police had informed the vice-chancellor before entering the campus. While the petitioners claim no one was informed, police officers claimed they had informed the registrar.

The CJ also asked what was the urgency in raiding the academic’s house when the case was four years old. Telangana counsel Harender Pershad told him that Kaseem had been on the run since the case was filed in 2016.
Can’t believe prof is absconding: CJ
Telangana special counsel Harender Pershad told the chief justice that Kaseem would be produced before a magistrate in Gajwel. The state also claimed that investigating officers had found more evidence now.
“Has the detenue failed to respond to your notices? Did you give him any notice in the first place?” Justice Chauhan questioned.
“A professor who is conducting classes for the last four years is now shown as absconding,” the CJ said. “This is unbelievable. You are doing this in many cases. If you do not produce him before us by tomorrow morning, we may have to think in terms of entrusting the matter to the CBI. We did so in Rajasthan in the past.”
Since October 4 last year, Telangana police have arrested 17 people, including Kaseem, for alleged links with Maoists. Besides under UAPA, the professor has also been charged with sedition, attempt to wage war against the country and criminal conspiracy.
Kaseem, an associate professor in the Telugu department, is also general secretary of Viplava Rachayitala Sangham, or the Revolutionary Writers’ Association. The association was once led by well-known Telugu writer Varavara Rao, currently in jail for his alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad case in Maharashtra.
At around 7am on Saturday, a police team from Siddipet led by Gajwel ACP Narayana reached the 43-year-old professor’s house with a search warrant. His wife, Snehalata, alleged that about 50 policemen forcibly entered their house by breaking open the rear door. “The case was filed at Mulugu police station in Siddipet district in 2016. We have seized incriminating evidence from the house,” Siddipet police commissioner Joel Davis said.
In January 2016, one Shyam Sundar Reddy, who the police claim worked as a courier for Maoist groups, was arrested after a car he was driving hit and killed a girl at Mulugu. “After the accident, Shyam Sundar abandoned the car and fled. In the vehicle officials found incriminating evidence, including correspondence between Kaseem and the Maoist party leadership,” Davis claimed.
Davis claimed that Kaseem had been collecting funds from the Maoist party’s central committee and using the money to organise meetings with various frontal organisations to propagate the party’s ideology.
Snehalata alleged that her husband had been arrested for creating awareness about disparity, caste discrimination and unemployment in Telangana. “I appeal to the government to close the case and release him immediately,” she said.
Retired professor and Civil Liberties Committee state president G Laxman, retired professor G Haragopal, convener of the Forum Against Repression, and other civil rights activists spoke at a meeting in the city to condemn the arrest.