MUMBAI: A special NIA court here on Friday remanded 82-year-old human rights activist Father Stan Swamy, arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad-alleged Maoist links case, in judicial custody till October 23.
He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from his Ranchi residence of Thursday evening.
He was produced before the special court here on Friday.
The court remanded him in judicial custody as the probe agency did not seek his remand.
Swamy, who had been questioned twice earlier by the Pune police and the NIA, was placed under arrest for his alleged links with the banned CPI (Maoist), NIA officials have said.
The cleric is the 16th person to be arrested in the case, in which people have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law UAPA.
Violence had erupted in the vicinity of a war memorial in Koregaon Bhima near Pune on January 1, 2018, allegedly after provocative speeches were made during the Elgar Parishad conclave held a day earlier at Shaniwarwada in Pune city.
NIA officials said investigations established that Swamy was actively involved in the activities of the CPI (Maoist).
The NIA also alleged that he was in contact with "conspirators" - Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde to further the group's activities.
The agency alleged that Swamy had also received funds through an associate for furthering the agenda.
Besides, he is convenor of the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), a frontal organisation of the CPI(Maoist), the officials claimed.
They said literature, propaganda material of the CPI (Maoist) and documents related to communications for furthering the group's programmes were seized from him.
In January this year, the Centre had transferred the probe into the Elgar Parishad case from Pune Police to the NIA.
Meanwhile, the central probe agency filed its supplementary charge-sheet against Swamy and six other arrested accused- Navlakha, Teltumbde, Hany Babu and three members of Kabir Kala Manch Jyoti Raghoba Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor.