Saturday, November 26, 2011

Top anti-Posco leader Abhay Sahu arrested

The police on Friday arrested top anti-Posco leader Abhay Sahu for his alleged involvement in several cases. Sahu, president of Posco Pratirodh Samgram Samiti (PPSS), spearheading agitation against the
proposed $12 billion steel plant by the South Korean steel major Posco in Jagatsinghpur district, was
arrested in the evening near Nuapokhari village near Ersama in the district, about 20 km from paradip.

Jagatsinghpur district police SP Devdutta Singh said: "Sahu was arrested for his involvement in several cases including tampering evidence in a dowry death case and atrocity against Scheduled Caste persons."

The PPSS condemned the arrest and described it as a conspiracy to suppress the movement Posco. "The state government thinks by arresting Sahu it can weaken the movement. They are wrong as they could not suppress it last time when Sahu was arrested in 2008," said Prasant Paikray, spokesperson of PPSS.