Manesar plant violence: Maruti Suzuki locks out plant, 6 more workers arrested

Even as Maruti Suzuki tries its best to recover from the violence that hit its Manesar plant on July 18, six more workers have been arrested for their alleged involvement in arson and rioting.

The total number of those apprehended now stands at 97.

Maruti Suzuki said it will continue to dispatch cars from its stockyard at the Manesar plant to dealers across the country, although it has declared a lockout at the factory.

General Manager (HR) Awanish Dev lost his life in the violence, while 100 others were injured.

Those arrested have been identified as Sohan Lal, a resident of Karnal; Yogesh Kumar, organising secretary of Maruti Suzuki Union and a resident of Jhajjar; Surender Pal of Palwal district; Naveen of Jhajjar; Pradeep of Jind and Satbir of Sirsa districts, the police said.

They were nabbed from different locations in the state.

Sohan Lal was arrested on Saturday and produced before a magistrate who has sent him to 14 days judicial custody on Sunday. The other five arrested workers would be produced in court on Monday.

Ninety one workers, who were arrested on July 18, are lodged in Bhondsi Jail after a court remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.

"The dispatch operations won't be affected and will continue from Manesar," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chief Operating officer (Production) M M Singh said.

The stockyard at Manesar plant has inventory of about 26,000 units at present, he added.

The company had resumed dispatching cars from the stockyard to various dealers across the country on Friday. The Manesar stockyard is also used for delivering cars produced at the company's Gurgaon plant to various dealers across the country.

The violence-hit company on Saturday declared an indefinite lockout at its Manesar plant, the first such instance in its history, but firmly ruled out the possibility of shifting operations to Gujarat.

Maruti Suzuki said it was completely overtaken by the 'Tsunami-like' violence that it had not anticipated and announced they would not employ casual labour from March next year in production-related operations, although they would be hired for "non-valued added" work like cleaning, security, canteen services, loading and unloading.