Pune: A Pune court on Saturday remanded rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused of having Maoist links, in police custody till November 6. Bharadwaj, under house arrest in Faridabad, was taken into custody by police this morning and brought to the court. Gonsalves and Ferreira had been taken into custody by Pune police Friday evening after the court rejected the bail applications of all three, observing that the material collected by the police, on the face of it, shows their alleged links with Maoists.
District and Sessions Judge K.D. Vadane sent Gonsalves and Ferreira in police custody till November 6 after they were produced in the morning. The judge remanded Bharadwaj in police custody for the same period when she was produced in the evening. Public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar argued that as all the accused were under house arrest (as per the Supreme Court’s directions), they could not be interrogated, so their police cusody was needed. Their 4-week period of house arrest also ended on Friday.
