Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti leader Abhay Sahu was arrested from near the Biju Patnaik Airport here on Saturday.
Mr. Sahu was arrested for his alleged involvement in a case relating to the death of three persons in a bomb blast at Patana village in the area earmarked for the proposed Posco steel plant on March 2.
Jagatsinghpur District Superintendent of Police Satyabrata Bhoi said the anti-Posco leader was arrested while he was about to board a flight to Coimbatore.
Mr. Sahu was taken to Jagatsinghpur district where he was produced before a court at Kujang and remanded to judicial custody, Mr. Bhoi said.
While it was alleged that Mr. Sahu was behind the blast, the Sangram Samiti had claimed that those killed in the explosion were its activists and bombs had been hurled at them by pro-Posco elements.
The arrest comes at a time when the Sangram Samiti activists are continuing their agitation against the construction of a boundary wall along the land acquired for the eight-million tonne capacity steel plant in Jagatsinghpur.
The Sangram Samiti condemned Mr. Sahu’s arrest. The district administration and police were after him as the movement, instead of withering away under severe repression, had gathered more momentum, the Samiti said.
Mr. Sahu has been arrested twice in the past in connection with a series of cases relating to the anti-Posco movement.