New Delhi:
A man from an up-market Mumbai suburb arrested last year for his alleged Naxal links has confessed to his crime during a nacro-analysis test.
One year ago, Arun Ferreira's arrest had shocked the city and set into motion a campaign in his support.
Activists, friends and family campaigned strongly for his release rebutting police charges that Ferreira was a Naxal sympathiser who campaigned for Naxal groups.
But now the Maharashtra Police, who put Fereira through the controversial narco-analysis test, claims they have clinching proof.
In his confessions police claim he told doctors that he was part of the City Action Commitee in Mumbai.
Arun said the committee had 8 to 10 associates and that his wife Jennifer too was a Naxal, even though she has rubbished this in the past.
The report alleges that he's confessed to attending Naxal programmes for slum dwellers and adivasi children in Mumbai and Nasik.
But Arun's supporters and legal experts see these claims as weak. They say that confessions under narco-analysis cannot be admitted in court as evidence.
Majeed Memon, a senior lawyer said, ",The narco-analysis confessions though may have brought trouble for Ferreira's friends.",
Ferreira is not the only urban activist arrested for yet to be proven Naxal links. Three others were arrested later and are awaiting trial.
Ferreira is currently in Nagpur jail.
Though the narco confession gives the police vital leads, they may still not be able to conclusively ascertain his Naxal links.
Is this the failure of an emerging science or the Nagpur police? All these questions will be answered when the case comes up for hearing this month.