Nagpur: Shoma Sen, a professor recently arrested for alleged Maoist links, was on Friday suspended by the Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University where she heads the English department.

Pune police had arrested Sen and five others on June 6 for alleged Maoist links while probing the January 1 violence in Bhima Koregaon, where Hindu radicals allegedly clashed with Ambedkarites.

Vice-chancellor S.P. Kane said Sen had been suspended from service till further orders. "She was suspended on the basis of information received from the Pune police that she had been detained under various IPC (Indian Penal Code) sections," Kane said, replying to a query.

"I had sought legal opinion on the issue, and her suspension is also because of her remaining in police custody for more than 48 hours."

Besides Sen, the police have arrested activist Mahesh Raut and lawyer Surendra Gadling from Nagpur, Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai and Rona Wilson from his flat in Delhi.

Sen's husband Tushar Kranti Bhattacharya was arrested from Nagpur station for alleged Maoist links in 2010.

According to the police, Dhawale was one of the organisers of the Elgar Parishad of December 31, held to commemorate 200 years of the Bhima Koregaon battle where Dalit troops of the British had defeated the Brahmin Peshwas' Maratha army.

An FIR registered at Vishrambaug police station says that Kabir Kala Manch activists had made provocative speeches at the event, leading to the violence that killed a man and provoked a Dalit agitation across Maharashtra. Mobs damaged and torched several vehicles and shops on New Year's Day and ransacked many houses. PTI