On 28 August, the news media was abuzz with the news of the Pune Police conducting coordinated raids across the country on the homes of 10 activists, arresting five of them. The news was presented in the context of two suggestions.

The first was that the arrests were made in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The second was that the raids were linked to investigations into violence that occurred at Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1.

The Pune police claims that the examination of those detained revealed their links to Maoists, which necessitated the recent raids and arrests. An assassination plot, as we said before, targetting the Prime Minister was also supposedly in the mix.

The idea that teachers, writers, some journalists, lawyers and activists speaking up for marginalised communities are somehow embroiled in a high-profile conspiracy to derail the country, was drummed up in certain sections of the media even before the Pune police arrested the activists.