Police file petitionseeking 7-days custody of Associate Prof

: Telangana Police have filed a petition in a local court in Siddipet district, seeking seven dayscustodyof an Associate Professor of city-based Osmania University, who was arrested for his alleged links with Maoists.

C Kaseem, 46, an Associate Professor working in Telugu Department of the University, was arrested on Saturday following searches at his house and produced before a court, which remanded him to judicial custody.

He is presently lodged inSangareddy District Jail.

A petition seeking seven-days custodyof Kaseem for custodialinterrogation as part of further probe into the case has been filed in a local court, a seniorpoliceofficial told PTI, adding the matter has been posted to January 22.

In a related development, a bail application was also filed in a court at Siddipet and the court may take up the petition in a couple of days, defence counsel said.

The Telangana High Court on Sunday had directed the state police to furnish 'evidence' it had against Kaseems alleged Maoist links after he was produced before it.

Hearing a petition challenging Kaseem's alleged illegal detention, Chief Justice R S Chauhan had recorded his statement and ordered the police to furnish all details, including the evidence against him, by January 23.

The CJ had on Saturday directed police to produce Kaseem after an urgent hearing of a Habeas Corpus Petition (HCP) by president of the Telangana unit of the Civil Liberties Committee Gaddam Laxman.

HCP is filed to seek production of a person in court.

Police had earlier said Kaseem was allegedly involved in a 2016 case registered under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, among other sections and claimed they have incriminating information that the professor was in continuous contact with Maoists party leaders.

Kaseem, they claimed, was working as an organiser of "united front vertical" of Maoists for Telangana state and was coordinator for the funding and other things