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New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to produce two accused arrested for inciting violence during the workers’ protest in Noida on April 13. Justice B.V. A bench of Justice Nagarathna and Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan directed the counsel appearing for the state government to produce Aditya Anand and Rupesh Roy before it at 2 pm on May 18.

The top court was hearing a petition filed by Aditya Anand’s brother Keshav Anand. The petition alleges that Aditya is being tortured by Uttar Pradesh Police officials after his arrest in this case. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Anand, said Aditya works as an engineer in a factory and also runs a library for children.

Seeking an independent investigation into the matter, Gonsalves told the court that Aditya’s speeches during the protests were focused on workers’ rights and recordings were available to corroborate this claim. The lawyer appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government refuted the allegations of custodial torture and said that due legal procedure was followed for the arrest.

Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Police had invoked provisions of the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, against student activist Aakriti Chaudhary and journalist Satyam Verma in connection with the workers’ protest in Noida. Gautam Buddha Nagar police on Thursday claimed that an amount of more than Rs 1 crore was deposited from abroad in the personal bank account of an accused linked to the violent workers’ protests in Noida last month.

Police said in a statement that the amount in the form of dollars, pounds and euros was received in the bank account of accused Satyam Verma. It said that this matter came to light during the investigation of cases registered in connection with the violent protests and workers’ demonstrations that took place on April 13 under the Gautam Buddha Nagar Police Commissioner’s Office.

Police said Verma, along with another accused named Aakriti, played a “key role” in causing violent protests, arson and disruption of public order during the labor movement. “As a result, action has been initiated against both the accused under the National Security Act,” the statement said. According to the police, Verma was arrested along with Himanshu Thakur from Lucknow on April 19. Earlier, Aditya was arrested, who is being said to be the alleged conspirator of these incidents.