Telugu poet, two others put under house arrest

A Pune court on Wednesday put under house arrest three of the five rights activists arrested a day earlier, hours after the Supreme Court orders in this regard.

They are poet-activist P. Varavara Rao, civil rights activist-lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves.

The Supreme Court had directed that all five arrested activists be placed under house arrest till the next hearing of the matter on September 6.

Rao was arrested from Hyderabad while the two others were held from Thane and Mumbai respectively on Tuesday by Pune police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon riot on January 1.

"You shall be sent home and kept under house arrest," Shivajinagar Additional Sessions Judge K.D. Vadane ordered when the three were presented by police for remand this evening.

Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar had sought the police custody for all three.

Pune Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivajirao Pawar later said that pursuant to court orders, arrangements will be made for the three accused to be sent to their respective homes.

"We had pleaded to put them under house arrest at a government facility. However, since there are specific directives of the Supreme Court, they will be sent to their places of residence," he added.

The police claimed, among other things, that the five arrested activists -- the three along with lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and activist-journalist Gautam Navlakha -- were Maoist supporters.

--IANS

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