India Maoist official in custody

Officials said Gour Chakrabarty was initially detained for interrogation but has now been remanded on suspicion of involvement in Maoist activity.

In his interview on a local TV station, Mr Chakrabarty defended Maoist violence in the Lalgarh area of West Bengal.

The arrest comes days after forces launched an offensive in the area.

On a Tuesday evening talk show on a Bengali TV channel, Mr Chakrabarty said the Maoists were the only revolutionary group in India "capable of achieving radical social change".

He said the Indian federal government was a "stooge of US imperialism" and the Communist government in Bengal "not very different".

As Mr Chakrabarty walked out of the TV station, waiting policemen detained him and took him away in a jeep.