Noida workers protest was planned to last in multiple-phases till May: UPSTF

The suspect was produced before a court Sunday and sent to jail. Two other accomplices – a resident of Kulersa in Noida and another from Delhi, arrested on April 11 – are already in jail

The groups accused of instigating the Noida workers’ protests had planned to continue the stir in “multiple phases” till at least May, officials of the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UPSTF) said on Sunday – a day after a 28-year-old B.Tech graduate was arrested in the case from Tamil Nadu.

As the protest turned violent on April 13, the 28-year-old suspect left the city. “We are investigating their funding. Some funding has been identified, while efforts are underway to trace the entire network and people who are supporting them,” said the additional SP. (HT Photos)

The suspect was produced before a court Sunday and sent to jail. Two other accomplices – a resident of Kulersa in Noida and another from Delhi, arrested on April 11 – are already in jail. All three are originally from different districts of Bihar.

“We have recovered multiple electronic evidence, including a documentary, in which it was found that the suspect, along with other accomplices, had planned to instigate the Noida workers’ protest in multiple phases,” said Raj Kumar Mishra, additional superintendent of police, UPSTF, adding that “the protest was planned to continue till May.”

On Saturday, around 1.30am, two UPSTF policemen arrested the 28-year-old suspect, a resident of Arun Vihar in Sector 37, from Tiruchirappalli railway station in Chennai and brought him to Gautam Budh Nagar on Sunday after obtaining transit remand from a local court in Chennai.

“Investigation found that there were 24 people – all from different activism groups – in their core group who were involved in instigating the workers’ protest in Noida. Their involvement was found in Delhi, Haryana’s Manesar, and parts of protests in the South. In Haryana, they were active since early February,” said the additional SP.

“The 28-year-old suspect came in contact with the suspect from Kulersa, Noida, in 2023. The latter formed a Samiti (activism group) to raise demands for people living without electricity connections in Kulersa. In 2025, he also held a protest outside the Gautam Budh Nagar DM office,” Mishra said.

As the protest turned violent on April 13, the 28-year-old suspect left the city. “We are investigating their funding. Some funding has been identified, while efforts are underway to trace the entire network and people who are supporting them,” said the additional SP.

When he was produced before a local court in Chennai, a number of advocates gathered on his behalf. However, UP Police officials obtained the remand and brought him to Gautam Budh Nagar. Officials said the three were identified using digital footprints and their presence at multiple locations.

The factory workers’ protest began on April 10 in Phase 2 after the Haryana government increased salaries of unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workers by 35 per cent. For three days, from April 10 to 12, the protest remained low-scale, but on April 13, it suddenly turned violent, during which more than 100 factories were vandalised and vehicles were torched across the district.