Retired customs officer arrested for naxal related activities

A special team constituted by the Surat and Navsari district police to investigate naxal related activities in south Gujarat has arrested a retired custom officer, taking the total arrests of such activists to
10, Surat police said today.

A retired customs officer — Vishwanath Vardharajan Iyer (60) was arrested by the special team for suspected Naxal links last week, they said.

According to the police, Iyer is among those who provided guerrilla warfare training to some naxals from Gujarat in the jungles of Kerala, sometime in 2000. 

Iyer is believed to be one of the central committee members of CPI(Maoist) organisation -— Janshakti, which is believed to have Naxal-Maoist links. 

Investigation have revealed that Iyer who belongs to Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, took voluntary retirement from the Customs Department in 1988 from Nagpur where he was last posted.

So far, the Special Team formed by the Surat police to probe Naxal links has arrested ten people including Iyer. His arrest follows questioning of those arrested earlier. 

Police further said that search was on for 5-6 persons whose names had cropped up during investigation.

The team has recently brought Prabahkar Surya Dewra arrested by Maharashtra police for his Naxal links to Surat for questioning.