NIA had no role in denying Stan Swamy sipper: Former NIA chief

New Delhi: Former NIA Director General Y C Modi on Thursday said that the Central agency had no role in denying Father Stan Swamy a sipper while he was in jail.

Y C Modi’s statement came after TMC MP Saket Gokhale accused the agency of having ‘denied even a straw’ to the Swamy.

Modi was heading the agency when NIA arrested Stan Swamy in 2020, booked under UAPA for his alleged role in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case and having links to CPI (Maoist).

Swamy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, filed bail pleas citing ill health but were rejected multiple times, despite his health deteriorated while in jail and died on July 5, 2021.

Blaming it on the then Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in Maharashtra, Y C Modi said it was ‘their responsibility to provide Swamy with a sipper and not the agency’s’.

The former NIA chief also claimed that the agency had enough evidence against Stan Swamy.

TMC MP Saket Gokhale brought the matter to the fore, saying ‘NIA is busy running its agenda in different states locking up Indians for supposedly plotting against the Modi government. An 83-year-old man, a tribal welfare worker and a priest, Father Stan Swamy… we know how he died in prison. We know how he was denied a straw. This is what NIA does today.’

Responding to Gokhale, the former NIA chief said ‘Yesterday (Wednesday) while initiating a debate on grants of MHA, TMC MP Saket Gokhale tried to project the role of NIA in UAPA case against Father Stan Swamy in a bad light. The factual position in the matter is as below: NIA had adequate evidence against Stan Swamy and he was chargesheeted after thorough investigation. He was in judicial custody when he demanded sipper (for drinking liquids). The same was to be provided by the jail authorities in Mumbai which was under the Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray in coalition with Congress and NCP.’

Modi claimed that the Central agency never objected to providing Swamy with a sipper alongside saying that the agency always supported giving ‘best medical treatment’ for Swamy.

He pointed out that Swamy’s lawyers and supports filed applications for different hospital for what he said ‘propaganda mileage’ thus ‘causing hindrance in best medical treatment to him’.

‘The unfortunate death of Stan Swamy was highlighted by Urban Naxals in the international media to tarnish the country’s image,’ the statement reportedly said.