Pune: The Pune police chief K.Venkatesham on Friday expressed happiness over the Supreme Court judgement on the arrest of the five activists for alleged Maoist links and said they would continue to “professionally” investigate the case. The apex court had on Friday refused to interfere with their arrest and declined to appoint a special investigation team (SIT) to probe their arrest.

After multi-city raids, the Pune police had arr-ested five activists — Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha – on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following the Elgaar Parishad, which was held last year on December 31, and which later triggered the Bhima-Koregaon violence, according to the police.

The police chief said they were happy with the apex court’s judgement. “I congratulate the investigation officer and his team for carrying out a professional investigation, which was recognised by the Supreme Court today and we will continue to investigate the case in a professional way,” he said.  He added that after four weeks, the Pune police would seek custody of the accused, who will remain under house arrest for four more weeks. In the meantime, the investigation will go on.