Keadilan supreme council member N Gopala Krishnan was arrested under the Sedition Act in Penang last night and has been remanded for a week.

He was nabbed at about 10pm while on his way to a ceramah. He was then taken to Kuala Lumpur where he was presented before a magistrate this morning.

It is learnt that police had arrested him under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act which covers offences related to prompting disaffection with the administration of justice in Malaysia.

Gopala is believed to be detained in relation to a police report lodged against him on Sept 25 by MIC Youth's social bureau action head T Mohan in Kuala Lumpur.

Mohan alleged that Gopala had made serious allegations against the police and senior Barisan Nasional leaders at a recent ceramah in Kota Baru, Kelantan, which were recorded on tapes and VCDs to be given to the public.

Gopala was said to have claimed that police were brutalising Indian detainees in lock-ups and had carried out operations against them in a trigger-happy manner between 2001 and August this year.

Unlawful and vilified

When contacted, Gopala's wife R Vasanthi said she received a phone call from her husband shortly after the arrest.

"He told me that everything was okay and asked me not to worry," she said.

She said she believed that Gopala's arrest was "unlawful and vilified" as her husband was just voicing out the grievances of those whose family members had died in police custody.

She added she would try to arrange for a visit with her husband as soon as possible.

Gopala was detained last April under the Internal Security Act (ISA) together with nine other Keadilan leaders and social activists for allegedly trying to unseat the government via militant means.

Together with Abdul Ghani Haron, he was later released after the Shah Alam High Court ruled that the detention of the duo was done in bad faith.