Cops detain 13 for naxal links
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Tamil Nadu police on Saturday night detained five people, including a woman, of the People Democratic Republic Katchi (PDRK), an organisation that has been banned because of its suspected links with naxalites, from a private school in western suburban Kundrathur.
Eight others, including a college student from Madurai, besides construction workers and earth moving machine operators, were also held when they were attending the study class at the Pavendar Malalayar Primary School.
The five PDRK members included Durai Singavel and his wife, Ragini, who are key members of the organisation, police sources said. The five are hardcore Maoists and had earlier been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), the police said.
The others who were arrested include Pazhanimanickam, Baskar, Senthil Kumar, Bhuviyarasan, Muralimohan, Gurunathan, Premkumar and Suresh.
The accused were produced in a court at Sriperumbudur and remanded to judicial custody in Vellore.
Sources in the Q branch said a team from the wing that monitors terror activities in the state went to the school on Saturday evening on a tip off that one Bharathi, who was on the list of wanted persons, was present at the study class.
“She was not there, but we nabbed 13 people with naxal links,” an official said. The Q team handed over the 13 people arresteed to the local police.
The police said that there was no armed training in the Chennai school but a class on ideological orientation was going when the police team reached the spot. “Some of the eight men were taking notes,” a police official said.
Meanwhile, human rights activists condemned the arrest of 13 suspected naxal activists saying that Duriasinghavelu was running an organisation named Porali and also bringing out a publication in the same name. He had been part of a naxal-related organisation.
“Porali is not a banned organisation. Indian Constitution allows people to create forums, debate and publicise their objectives. The arrest of 13 people is illegal,” said A. Marx, a human rights activist.
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