Vijayawada,  A NIA court here on Friday sent three accused in Peddabayalu CPI-Maoist recruitment case to judicial custody till July 8.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) produced Dongari Devendra, Subasi Swapana, and Chukka Shilpa in the court, a day after arresting them in Telangana.

The court sent them to judicial custody for two weeks and all three were later shifted to Rajahmundry jail.

The accused are facing the charges of allegedly motivating and recruiting a college student in the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist.

The NIA had arrested the accused after conducting searches at three places in Rangareddy and Secunderabad. They allegedly belong to Chaitanya Mahila Sangham (CMS), a frontal organisation of the CPI-Maoist.

According to the agency, incriminating material including digital devices was seized during the searches.

The NIA said based on the searches, it arrested three accused for their involvement in motivating and recruiting youth for the CPI-Maoist.

The case was initially registered on January 3, 2022 at Peddabayalu police station, Visakhapatnam. The NIA re-registered the case on June 3 and took over the investigation.

Chukka Shilpa is a practicing lawyer at the Telangana High Court and she was arrested after a search at her residence in Chilukanagar in Uppal area.

Visakhapatnam police had registered the case on a complaint by mother of nursing student Radha.

Radha went missing four years ago and her mother Pallepati Pochamma alleged that leaders of the CMS kidnapped her and forcibly recruited her into CPI-Maoist.