Delhi: Trade union leader held for Maoist links

A trade union leader and his wife have been detained in connection with investigations into the Maoist network in the capital, police sources said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Trade union leaders Gopal Mishra and his wife Anu were detained by a team of the Delhi police's special cell, sources said.

However, no official was ready go on record on the detention issue.

On April 4, Sunil Mandiwal, an assistant professor with Delhi University's Dayal Singh College, was detained for his suspected links with Maoists, including arrested leader Kobad Ghandy. He was released after questioning.

During investigations into the Maoist network in the capital, police sources had earlier said that extremists were infiltrating trade unions. The Maoists had an active trade union in Okhla industrial area. The Maoists were also targeting displaced labourers and bringing them under their fold, they said.

A non-governmental organisation, Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, claimed that Mishra was taken into custody on April 25 from his residence in Ramnagar and his wife was picked up on Monday.

The CRPP quoted Ritesh Kumar, the owner of the house in which Mishra was staying as a tenant, as saying that police reached the residence along with Mishra at 11 am on Monday. They waited for his wife Anu to return in the evening.

"The house owner was later told by the police that they were taking him to the police station. Later, it became clear that along with Mishra, another trade unionist Pradeep was also taken away by the police," the CRPP said.

The NGO demanded the unconditional release of the two and granting them access to lawyers.

The NGO has also sent a letter to the National Human Rights Commission seeking its intervention to get the couple 'released'.