NIA Raids Noida Residence of Dr Rowena, Hany Babu’s Partner

Dr Rowena said the NIA had seized hard drives & material related to the defence committee on Prof GN Saibaba.

(Photo: The Quint)

Days after it arrested Delhi University Associate Professor Dr Hany Babu MT over allegations of his involvement in the Elgar Parishad case, the National Investigation Agency on Sunday, 2 August, raided the residence of Dr Babu’s partner and Miranda House Professor Dr Jenny Rowena as part of investigations into the case, reported The Wire.

According to the report, the NIA team comprising eight men and two women showed up at Dr Rowena’s Noida residence around 7:30 in the morning and only left after 11 am.

According to the Miranda House Associate Professor, hard disks and material related to a defence committee on arrested DU Professor GN Saibaba, of which Dr Babu was a part, have been seized by the investigation agency.

“They (NIA officers) said this was a part of their evidence collection process. They took away some hard disks and material related to (G.N. Saibaba’s) Defence Committee.”

Dr Jenny Rowena to The Wire

Professor GN Saibaba was arrested in 2014 and subsequently sentenced to three years in prison on charges of having Maoist links.

On 28 July, Dr Babu was arrested by the NIA in Mumbai, where he had joined the agency for investigations.

Dr Babu asserts that he had no role in organising the Elgar Parishad or in the Bhima Koregaon violence that erupted thereafter. The National Investigation Agency says he has been arrested on charges of “propagating Naxal activities, Maoist ideology and was a co-conspirator with other arrested accused in the Elgaar Parishad case.”