According to the Hindustan Times report, on Monday, the Chhattisgarh police gave a clean chit to Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar, Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Archana Prasad and five others in a 2016 murder case, registered at Tongpal police station of Sukma district.
Nandini Sundar, wife of Siddharth who's founder of The Wire:
1) Booked for murder of tribal
2) She used fake name & visited Naxal areas
3) Sukma Attack Maoist revealed Connection between Naxals & her.
Now under Congress Chhattisgarh Govt, Police have given a clean chit to her
— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) February 12, 2019
The Hindustan Times has quoted Jitendra Shukla, superintendent of police, Sukma, saying, “After the investigation, police have found no direct evidence against Nandini Sundar and other four in Tongpal murder case. The statements of the villagers were taken which suggests that they were not present at the time of the murder. Hence, we have taken back the cases against them.”
The police in its charge-sheet maintained that during investigation no evidence was found against Nandini Sundar, Archana Prasad and others in connection with the murder of Shamnat Baghel, a resident of Nama village in Sukma district. He had spearheaded a campaign against Maoist activities and formed a group called “Tangiya (axe) group”.
Nandini Sundar, Archana Prasad, and others were booked by Sukma police after a complaint was filed by Shamnath Baghel’s wife. At that time, the then Bastar range inspector general of police SRP Kalluri had said, “The victim’s wife has alleged that Nandini and other workers held meetings in the area and that was provocative. There were threats received that Baghel will be eliminated if he doesn’t mend his ways.” He added, “Nandini Sundar, to us, is a suspect; her behaviour from the start has been suspicious.” SRP Kalluri had also claimed that Nandini Sundar went to the village in June using a fake name– Richa Keshav.
Recently, Kalluri was posted as the chief of the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Meanwhile, Podiyam Panda, a Maoist operative and terrorist surrendered to the Chhattisgarh police on May 9, 2018. He specifically revealed the names of Delhi University (DU) Professor of Sociology Nandini Sundar and Bela Bhatia, a former Associate Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS, Delhi) and an Honorary Visiting Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay.
https://twitter.com/Abhina_Prakash/status/1095165507043577857
Panda further claimed that he acted as a liaison between these ideologues and the Maoist leaders holed up in interior villages of Sukma including Ramanna, Hidma, Paparao Aaytu, Arjun and others.
For more details: Urban Naxals: The most dreadful criminals of modern India
Moreover, this step of the Chhattisgarh police does not seem to have gone down well with the nationalist forces. It is being seen as an act of preserving and nurturing left-liberal ecosystem which is favorable to the Congress.
