Police get custody of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira till Nov 6 to probe role
Arun Thomas Ferreira and Vernon Stanislaus
The Pune Police that arrested Mumbai-based lawyers and rights activists Vernon Stanislaus Gonsalves, 61, and Arun Thomas Ferreira, 45, on Friday for their alleged links with the banned organisation CPI (Maoist) and Elgaar Parishad, have claimed that the duo was involved in recruiting research scholars into the revolutionary fold. Gonsalves and Ferreira, who were arrested from their homes in Andheri and Thane respectively, were produced before the special judge Kishor D Vadane under heavy security.
Ujjawala Pawar, the government district pleader said, "A letter seized by the investigating agency reveals that both the accused are involved in recruiting cadres from universities and sending them into guerrilla zone in the forest area. They targetted research scholars, especially youth, and got them to work for the banned movement. These accused persons have received funds and supplied it to the frontal organisation of CPI(M). We need to investigate as to who are the persons from whom the funding was being received."
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Defence lawyer Siddharth Patil and Rahul Deshmukh argued that the police had two months to investigate the matter. "All the material has been recovered long ago, and they had two months to check and investigate the matter." Following the arguments, Judge Wadane remanded the duo to police custody till November 6.
'I need clean toilets'
On Saturday, the police arrested Sudha Bharadwaj, 57, a resident of Faridabad. She was produced in court later in the evening. Bharadwaj is a professor of law at the National Law University. In her application, she demanded that one lady officer be with her during interrogation. She also asked for a clean toilet in the lock-up. Also, as she suffers from blood pressure and diabetes, she said she needed to be given medicine and food accordingly. She, too, will be in police custody till November 6.
Also Read: Activists Arrest: HC Questions Maharashtra Police's Media Briefing
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