Coimbatore: A local court on Tuesday remanded top Maoist leader Roopesh, his wife and three others, to judicial custody till June 3.
Mahila court judge M P Subramanian ordered them to custody after they were produced in court following questioning for some 20 hours by police officials from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, police said.
Cases have been registered against them under various sections of IPC including 120 B (conspiracy) and 124 A (sedition), they said. They will be lodged in the Coimbatore central jail and police will seek their custody for questioning again, police added.
Roopesh, wanted in at least 20 cases in Kerala along with his wife, Shina, besides three others Anup, Veeramani and Kannan were arrested on Monday at Karumathampatti, some 25 km from here.
They were having tea at a bakery last evening when they were apprehended in a joint operation by police from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
However, Roopesh and Shina told waiting media persons Tuesday that the version by police was incorrect. They claimed they were being brought from Andhra Pradesh when they were going to a hospital for treatment of Shina for knee joint pain.
Amid shouting pro-Maoist slogans on the way to court, Roopesh claimed he was not guilty of any crime and their struggle on the issue of Western Ghats will continue and will not end till a solution was found.
He claimed the officials, who were questioning them for the last 20 hours under the leadership of DIG Tamil Nadu Intelligence, Eswaramuirthy, decided to produce them before the court only after they resorted to a fast.
