Suspected Maoist conduit arrested in Delhi

October 4, 2011 | Business | Written by

New Delhi, Oct 4: A suspected Maoist conduit, accused of receiving ‘protection money’ from the Essar group on behalf of the rebels, was Tuesday arrested in south Delhi by Chhattisgarh Police, said Delhi Police.

Soni Sori, a tribal teacher from Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh, was arrested from Katwaria Sarai area.

She was later presented in a court which sent her to judicial custody for a day.

Chhattisgarh Police, in July, filed a case against Sori for allegedly collecting Rs.15 lakh from a contractor of the Essar group.

Following the registration of the case, police picked up her nephew Lingaram Kodopi in Chhattisgarh accusing him of being a Maoist sympathiser. He alleged that the police had implicated him.

In 2010, Chhattisgarh Police booked Sori in a case related to an attack on Congress leader Avdesh Gautam’s house.

There are five different cases registered against Sori in Chhattisgarh under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, police said.

Sori, who left her studies in a medical college for a government job at Sameli village as warden of a residential school for girls, later went into hiding.

An Essar group general manager D.V.C.S. Verma was arrested Sep 27 from Raipur for his alleged role in paying ‘protection money’ to the Maoists to help the company reopen a 267-km iron ore slurry supply pipeline in Dantewada district.

His arrest followed questioning of Essar contractor B.K. Lala, who was caught while handing over Rs.15 lakh.

IANS