Court grants NIA custody of two students with alleged Maoist

A court here on Tuesday granted the National Investigation Agency 7-day custody of two students who were arrested by police recently from Kozhikode for allegedly distributing pro-Maoist pamphlets, from January 22.

The NIA had last month taken over the UAPA cases against the students, Thwaha Fazal (24) and Alan Suhaib (20), who are CPI(M) activists.

Considering the application moved by the NIA seeking their custody, the NIA court on Tuesday granted seven-day custody of the accused from January 22.

They will be produced before the court on Wednesday before NIA takes them into custody.

The Kerala High Court on November 27 had dismissed the bail plea of the two students who were arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The court had admitted the evidence submitted by police to prove the arrested students had Maoist links and denied them bail.

Fazal and Alan, students of journalism and law respectively and the CPI(M)'s branch committee members, were arrested on November 2 from Kozhikode, leading to widespread criticism in the Left-ruled state.