Maruti's union heads nabbed

The Haryana Police on Wednesday arrested 10 office-bearers of the Maruti Suzuki Workers' Union (MSWU), including Ram Meher, the president, and Sarabjit Singh, general secretary, in connection with the violence that resulted in the killing of a senior manager and left severals injured at Maruti Suzuki’s factory in Manesar.

"These 10 were arrested from Hansi in Hisar district this morning. They were planning to escape to Rajasthan, from where they planned to go to Gujarat," said Ranjeev Singh Dalal, the state’s director general of police. They would all be produced before a court on Thursday.

The other arrested union leaders are chief patron Sandeep Dhillon, vice-president Sohan Kumar, legal advisor Ajmer Singh, joint secretary Pawan Kumar and cashier Suresh Kumar, along with three executive members, Ram Vilas, Amarjeet and Pradeep Kumar. The police had earlier arrested two union leaders, organising secretary Yogesh Yadav and executive member Dhanraj Bhami. In all, 114 workers have been arrested so far.

Six teams of the state police had raided different places in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana to trace the absconding leaders. Dalal added he’d met the managing director and chief executive officer of Maruti Suzuki, Shinzo Nakanishi, and assured him of providing adequate security in and around the factory. The police will provide a three-tier security system in the Manesar area, on the Maruti Suzuki premises and to individuals to restore order. “Since all the union leaders are arrested, I have also requested the company to resume production at the plant," said Dalal.

The Police has deployed 600 personnel in the IMT Manesar area to maintain law and order. Besides, the state government has set up an investigation team led by an assistant commissioner of police, Ravinder Tomar, to probe the incident.

Meanwhile, during the day, 91 arrested workers in judicial custody were produced before a local magistrate, who extended their jailing for another 14 days.

Around 100 executives were injured and a deputy general manager, human resources, Awanish Kumar Dev, killed in a violent standoff between the workers and the management on July 18. Following the incident, Maruti Suzuki declared an indefinite lockout at the Manesar unit, citing safety and well-being of its employees. The company has said it would not resume operations at the facility until investigations are complete and those guilty brought to book.