Maoist links: Maharashtra's Gadchiroli court gives DU Prof GN Saibaba, four others life sentence

Delhi University professor GN Saibaba and five others were on Tuesday convicted by Maharashtra's Gadchiroli court under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in a case of alleged Maoist links. While Saibaba and and four others were givenfive years jail sentence, one person, Vijay Tirke, was given a ten sentence.

Judge SS Shinde convicted Saibaba under sections 13, 18, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which deals with conspiracy, being a member of terrorist gang or organisation and offences relating to support given to a terrorist organization. Saibaba is currently out on bail.

"Court has said these six people are guilty of 'continuos offence' and not a single event and because of them the district is facing Naxal violence for years," Abhinav Deshmukh, SP, Gadchiroli said.

Defence argued that NIA should have probed the case not the Gadchiroli Police. The Defence said that the electronic evidence against Saibaba and others were tampered, and the witnesses tutored. Saibaba, JNU student Hem Mishra, former journalist Prashant Rahi, Mahesh Tirki and Pandu Narote have been the life sentence, while Vijay Tirke has been sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment. He had acted as a courier.

The defence lawyer did not counter the allegations.

Hem Mishra was arrested along with Mahesh Tirkey and Pandu Narote at Aheri in Gadchiroli district in August 2013. Based on the leads provided by them, Prashant Rahi and Vijay Tirkey were then arrested from Deori in Gondia district.

Saibaba was arrested in May 2014 by Maharashtra's Gadchiroli police on charges of being a member of the banned CPI (Maoist), providing logistics and helping in recruitment for the group.

An English professor at Ram Lal Anand College, Saibaba was suspended from DU following his arrest by Maharashtra Police in 2014 for alleged Maoist links. He was lodged in Nagpur Central Jail for 14 months and granted bail in July 2015 after the court noticed his deteriorating health condition.

However, the bail was cancelled and he was re-arrested in December last.

The Supreme Court had earlier this month granted him bail saying Maharashtra government has been "extremely unfair" to him. He had written to college requesting for reinstatement of his services following which the GB has constituted a one-member committee to look into the issue.

While the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) was supporting the 90% disabled professor on the issue of reinstatement, a group of students led by members of ABVP had opposing it claiming the move will have a "bad influence" on students.

Saibaba, had visited the college thrice last week, once to submit his letter and twice to attend a two-day college event. His visits were met with protests from members of ABVP who allegedly tried to attack him. Earlier, Ram Lal Anand College had asked Saibaba to not enter college without prior permission as it creates "law and order" problems.