Both of them were produced before a judicial magistrate court.

A couple, suspected to have Maoist links, was arrested on Monday by Uttar Pradesh Police's Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) from a rented house in Bhopal.

Manish Srivastava and his wife Varsha alias Anita Srivastava, who are from a village near Machalishahar town of East UP's Jaunpur district, were arrested from a house in the upscale Vikas Kunj colony of the state capital.

Both of them were produced before a judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) court in Bhopal on Tuesday, which provided the transit remand of the couple to the UP ATS till July 12. After being sent to transit remand, the couple raised "Inqalab Zindabad" slogans in the court premises.

Speaking to the journalists, Varsha said: "Ask those who have arrested us on why we have been arrested. We don't have links with any extremist outfit and were neither doing anything anti-national."

According to sources at the Vikas Kunj Colony in Bhopal, the couple was living in the locality for the last five years.

After living in a house for about six months, they shifted to another house in the neighbourhood from where they were arrested on Monday.

The owners of both the houses didn't ensure that tenant verification was done for the couple, said officials.

Sources in the Bhopal Police have said that case could filed against house owners in future for renting the houses without proper tenant verification.

Manish had told his neighbours that he was running an NGO, and his wife Varsha was a teacher at a school in Bhopal. While Varsha stayed mostly in Bhopal, Manish came and stayed at the house for a few days every month, said locals.

A case has been filed against the couple for abetting war against the country, criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating and fraud under Sections 121(a), 120B, 415, 420, 467 and 468 of IP. They will next be taken to Lucknow for detailed questioning by the anti-terror sleuths.



