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Swiss national held in Kerala over Maoist links

A SWISS NATIONAL was arrested by Kerala police on Tuesday for his alleged links with banned Maoist outfit.

The 24-year-old foreigner identified as Jonathan Bold was taken into custody after he allegedly attended a function organised in memory of Sinoj, a senior Communist Party of India (Maoist) activist, at Valappad in Trichur district on Monday night.

Jonathan has been charged under the Foreigners Act, Section 14(b), which pertains to violation of visa conditions. Police have seized some Maoist literature from his hotel room in Kannur.

Police said Jonathan, who arrived in the state on a tourist visa, addressed the meeting organised by a group having Maoists and Naxalite sympathisers. Sinoj, who belonged to Valappad, had died last month while handling explosives in a forest in Andhra Pradesh.

A member of the Western Ghats Special Zone Committee of the armed Maoist guerrilla group, Sinoj was engaged in creating a foothold for the CPI (Maoist) in the state. He was in-charge of the political wing of the Kabani Dalam operating in Kerala.

Jonathan denied having any links with the Maoists. He reportedly told police that he had attended the function out of curiosity after seeing a report in a daily. He claimed that he came to Kerala in connection with a study he is doing about history.

However, in an interview he gave to Deshabhimani, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), he said that he was a member of the Paris-based Communist Progressive Party. Curiously, he gave his name as Mathews in the interview.

The daily had taken his interview after he attended a party function at Calicut on July 24. Jonathan admitted that he had attended the function. He had arrived in Kerala on July 10 with a woman companion and had visited Kannur and other parts of the state before arriving at Trichur on Monday.

The police have sought the help of French interpreters to question Jonathan, who speaks French language. Police said they would also be questioning his woman companion for more information about their mission in Kerala. Jonathan is now in Valappad police custody.