A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday morning conducted a search at the residence of Delhi University professor Hany Babu in Noida, an accused in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.
His wife Jenny Rowena, an English faculty at Miranda House, Delhi said that around 10 men from the NIA and the local police came to their residence at 7.30 am and seized some pen drives, a hard-disk and some leaflets and booklets of the Committee for the Defence and Release of GN Saibaba, of which Babu is the national convener.
“Most of the things they seized were already here during the previous raid,” she said and alleged that the seizures were not made using proper procedure wherein hash values are given for the data, so that their integrity is established.
The search, she said, was for certain things related to the Defence Committee, such as cash ledgers which Babu maintained and a booklet published by the committee.
This is the second raid at Babu’s house, the earlier one being in September last year. In the raid that lasted six hours, they had taken his laptop, phone, hard disk, pen drives and three books. That time that agency had not got a search warrant. On Sunday, they had one.
Rowena continues to speak to the media though well-wishers advise her not to do so. “If things happen to us, do we change our politics and become another person. If people don’t speak out, things will keep happening,” she said.
GN Saibaba’s wife Vasantha called the raid a “harassment” and an attempt to intimidate. The leaflets and booklets seized by the Defence Committee, she said, were distributed publicly and only contain a profile of GN Saibaba and the lapses of the judgment through which he was convicted.
The agency’s spokesperson said she would not comment on the matter since it is under investigation.
Hany Babu, who was summoned for questioning to Mumbai was questioned for four days before being arrested in the evening of July 28. The NIA claiming his custody before court told it that he had maoist links and has supported Naxalite movements and activities.
