New Delhi, August 28: Police teams from different states conducted simultaneous raids at eight locations on Tuesday. The raids were conducted in Maharashtra, Goa, Telangana, Delhi and Jharkhand in connection with the alleged death threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Maoists. According to a report published in India Today, the police had claimed to have found evidence - emails, documents, literary materials – which indicated that the left wing extremists (LWE) were planning to conduct a "Rajiv Gandhi-type" assassination bid on PM Modi.

The raids were conducted on the houses of well-known writers, lawyers, journalists and activists. According to the report, police raided houses of writer and Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao and her daughter in Pune. The raids were considered as a follow up to the ones carried out in June in connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence.

The raids were also conducted in Delhi, Jharkhand and Telangana. Houses of Arun Ferreira, Susan Abraham and Vernon Gonsalvez in Mumbai, Anand Teltumbde in Goa, Stalin Swamy in Jharkhand, and Gautam Navlakha and Sudha Bhardwaj in Delhi were searched, reported India Today. Meanwhile, three houses related to VV Rao and Kranti and Kaseem of Virasam were raided in Hyderabad. All the three persons suspected to have links with Maoists.  Police have arrested Sudha Bhardwaj and Gautam Navlakha. However, The Delhi High Court has stayed the transit remand of Navlakha.

According to the report, Poet and activist Varavara Rao's name had surfaced when Pune police arrested Surendra Gadling from Nagour in June related to Elgaar Parishad rally case. Later, Rao was arrested by the police.  In June, the Pune Police had arrested Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, lawyer Gadling, and activists Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, and Rona Wilson in connection with ‘Elgar Parishad’ rally case. A letter allegedly recovered from one of the accused had revealed a plot to assassinate PM Narendra Modi, in another ‘Rajiv Gandhi-style assassination’.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2018 02:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).