Kamal Ghorui
NOIDA: The Special Task Force and a police team from Noida arrested Aditya Anand, described as “mastermind” behind the April 13 labour protest violence in the city, from Tiruchirapalli railway station in Tamil Nadu on Saturday.Anand was tracked through electronic surveillance and intelligence inputs, and a reward of Rs 1 lakh was announced for his capture.Police claimed Anand played a central role in orchestrating the violence that erupted during the workers’ protest, which initially began as a demonstration over labour-related grievances. There was large-scale vandalism in the city’s industry hubs on April 13 after violence broke out. Investigators alleged Anand and his associates planned to incite unrest and escalate the protest into a violent confrontation.Originally from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, Anand holds a BTech degree from NIT Jamshedpur and was placed as a software engineer at a private company in Noida through campus recruitment. He lived in Gurgaon for work before shifting back to Noida in June 2025 and was residing in rented accommodation in Sector 37 at the time of the protest, sources said.Police said Anand first came into contact with Mazdoor Bigul, a labour-focused organisation led by Anubhav Sinha, on Facebook in 2022 and subsequently began reporting on factory workers’ conditions in the city. He met co-accused Rupesh Roy — arrested on April 11 along with Manisha Chauhan as alleged conspirators — during the Bhagat Singh Jan Adhikar Yatra in 2023, an initiative organised by Mazdoor Bigul.Over time, Anand deepened his association with the organisation’s senior leadership and participated in agitations across the country, police said. Police also link Anand with Disha Student Organisation, RWPI and Naujavan Bharat Sabha.Multiple police teams from Noida and the STF were deployed across several states to track Anand after investigators initially suspected he may have fled to Delhi. Officials said his questioning is expected to shed light on others involved.Anand will be brought to Noida on transit remand, police said. A non-bailable warrant was earlier issued against him by a local court, and a case was registered at Noida Phase 2 police station under BNS sections 191(1) and (2) (rioting), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 121(1) and (2) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and Section 7 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act.The Anti-Terrorism Squad has separately launched an investigation into the violence after police claimed two handles on X that posted fake videos about people dying during the protests were operated from Pakistan.
