The link between Gautam Navalkha and Ghulam Nabi Fai

It has often been found that the naxalites in the forests with a view of promoting their so-called urban revolution have taken help of their friends in the cities. It is what is called the Urban Naxal Case

Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-naxal link case was in touch with Ghulam Nabi Fai who was arrested by the FBI for accepting funds from the ISI and Pakistan government, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said.

When Fai was arrested in 2011, Navlakha had written a letter to the judge of the US court trying Ghulam Nabi Fai seeking clemency for him, the NIA said in an affidavit while opposing the bail plea filed the accused in the Elgar Parishad case.

Navlakha is currently under house arrest after being permitted by the Supreme Court on health grounds.

The NIA said that Gautam Navlakha had been introduced to a Pakistani ISI General for his recruitment by Ghulam Nabi Fai on the directions of the ISI. This shows his nexus and complicity with the ISI and Fai, the agency also said.

While opposing his bail application, the NIA's counsel, Sandesh Patil told a Bench of Justices A S Gadkari and P D Naik that Navalkha had committed acts that had a direct impact on national security and unity.

Further the agency also pointed out that Navalkha had visited the United States thrice to speak at the Kashmiri American Council Conference that was organised by the Ghulam Nabi Fai.

Navalkha's main intention was to overthrow the government. For this he had deep links with the CPI (Maoist) and he espouses the Maoist ideology. His anti-government utterances through his various lectures and videos were with the objective of overthrowing the government, the NIA also said.

He was assigned tasks such as uniting the intellectuals against government forces and recruitment of cadres for the guerrilla activities of the CPI)Maoist), the NIA said. Not only did he support banned terror groups, but also had an active role in furthering their activities, the agency noted.

In its chargesheet against Navalkha, the NIA had said in 2020 that he had taken part in a fact finding committee, assigned tasks for recruitment of cadres. He was also involved in fixing appointments and meetings between the active urban cadres and underground leaders of the CPI (Maoist).

In this case the NIA had charged eight persons: Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap, Stan Swamy and Milind Teltumbde.

The NIA said that the accused persons to further the ideology of the CPI (Maoist) abetted violence, brought in hatred and incited disaffection towards the government. Teltumbe had organised training camps to impart weapons training, the chargesheet had also said.

It was in this case that the close links between the naxalites in the forests and their friends in the city and come to light. The Strategy and Tactics adopted by the Maoists to carry out so-called urban revolution with their frontal outfits had also come to light during this investigation.