MUMBAI: The Pune police on Friday arrested activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves after their bail applications were rejected by a special court, bringing the crackdown on alleged Maoist sympathisers back on the frontburner.They were picked up from their homes in Mumbai and Thane respectively and would be produced before the trial court on Saturday, said Pune Joint Commissioner of Police Shivaji Bodkhe.
The two activists along with three others — Sudha Bharadwaj, P Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha — were first arrested in a nationwide swoop on August 28 for their alleged role in the Elgaar Parishad conclave that snowballed into the Bhima-Koregaon violence in January last, but later put under house arrest upon the Supreme Court’s intervention.
The SC later lifted its protection, restricted the house arrest to four more weeks and told the activists they were free to seek legal redress as per law.
With the house arrest period ending on Friday, the bail applications of Gonsalves, Ferreira and Bharadwaj came up before the Pune court, but were rejected. Bharadwaj would be arrested on Saturday, Bodkhe said.
As for Telugu poet P Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha, they still have some protection going forward. The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday extended Rao’s house arrest by three weeks.
While Navlakha’s house arrest was quashed by Delhi High Court, the Maharashtra government’s challenge to the order is pending before the SC. So they won’t be arrested as of now, the police officer said.