10 union leaders of Maruti Manesar plant arrested: Police

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Haryana police on Wednesday arrested 10 office bearers of Maruti Suzuki Workers' Union, including its President Ram Meher and General Secretary Sarabjit Singh, in relation with the violence at the company's Manesar plant on July 18.

"These ten office bearers were arrested from Hansi in Hissar district on Wednesday morning. They were planning to escape to to Rajasthan from where they planned to go to Gujarat," Haryana Director General of Police Ranjeev Singh Dalal told reporters here.

These ten workers would be produced at court on Thursday and the police would seek ten days remand, he added.

The other arrested union leaders are Chief Patron Sandeep Dhillon, Vice-President Sohan Kumar, Cashier Suresh Kumar, Legal Advisor Ajmer Singh and Joint Secretary Pawan Kumar along with three Executive Members, Ram Vilas, Amarjeet and Pradeep Kumar.

The police had already arrested two union leaders - Organising Secretary Yogesh Yadav and Executive Member Dhanraj Bhami.

"With Wednesday's arrests, all the union leaders have been nabbed," he said, adding in all 114 workers have been arrested so far in relation to the incident.

Six different teams of Haryana police had raided different places in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana to trace the absconding union leaders, he added.

The Haryana government had set up a special investigation team, headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravinder Tomar, to probe the incident in which one senior official of the company was killed and 100 others were injured.

In the backdrop of the latest arrest, Dalal said he met Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi and assured him that police will provide all type of security, including area and individuals, at the factory premises.

"Since all the union leaders are arrested, I have also requested the company to resume production at the plant," Dalal said.

In order to check such industrial violence in the IMT Manesar area, 600 policemen have been deployed under the leadership of Yogendra Mehra, IPS, he added.

Meanwhile, during the day 91 arrested workers who have been on judicial custody were produced before a local magistrate, who sent them to judicial custody for another 14 days.

MSI General Manager (HR) at the Manesar plant Awanish Kumar Dev was charred to death in the arson and violence in the plant in which 100 others were also injured.

On July 21, the company had declared a lockout at the plant citing safety and well being of its employees were paramount.