2 yrs on run,artistes court arrest

After evading arrest for over two years,two artistes of the Kabir Kala Manch,Sheetal Sathe and Sachin Mali,surfaced outside the Vidhan Bhavan on Tuesday morning and got arrested.

The couple had gone into hiding following the arrest of other Manch members. They assembled along with Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh party leader Prakash Ambedkar,CPI leader Prakash Reddy,documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and others.

Their sudden appearance baffled the police. “We were informed that two accused in some Naxal case have decided to surrender. But we were clueless about the case and their involvement. They were brought to the Marine Drive police station. The ATS officials formally arrested them at 2 pm,” senior police inspector Zunjarrao Gharal said. They will be produced before a magistrate court on Wednesday.

They were earlier booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their alleged links with CPI (Maoist). The group was featured in Patwardhan’s award-winning docu film Jai Bhim Comrade.

The KKM Defence Committee said the duo courted arrest following a Bombay High Court order in their favour. “Fear was instilled in us when our group members were picked from Pune. But with the HC order,we thought it was correct time to get our names cleared,” Sathe said.