Court transfers Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy's case for sessions trial

A Delhi court today transferred the case relating to top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy to the district judge for forwarding it to a sessions judge for further proceedings.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Kaveri Baweja sent the case to the district judge as Ghandy, a Central Committee member of
banned CPI (Maoist), has been chargesheeted under the various provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act that are
exclusively triable by a sessions court.

The court directed that Ghandy, 63, be produced before the district judge on April 15.

The court undertook the committal (transfer) proceedings as the Delhi police provided the accused copies of the CD/DVDs
purportedly showing him addressing armed Maoist cadres in Nepal.

It had on April 3 asked the special cell of the Delhi police, which investigated the case against Ghandy, to give him the copies as these were relied upon by the prosecuting agency as evidence against him. 

Ghandy, arrested on September 20 last year, is now in judicial custody.

The city police had on February 19 filed a chargesheet against Ghandy, accusing him of trying to set up a network of the banned outfit in New Delhi. He was charged under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, besides being booked under IPC relating to cheating, forgery and impersonation.

In its over 700-page chargesheet, the police had alleged Ghandy, along with his associates, was trying to build a 'Maoist corridor' in the national capital.

His associate Arvind Joshi, who was later arrested from Kanpur, is in judicial custody here.