Popular Manipuri film actress U Devita Devi, who was arrested in Imphal on Monday immediately after her arrival from New Delhi for her alleged links with an underground militant group, has been remanded in police custody for five days by a court in Bishenpur district.

Reports from Imphal said the police had arrested her in connection with a case dating back to October 2007, registered following the arrest of a KYKL militant called Oinam Chandrakumar. A self-styled corporal of the KYKL, Chandrakumar had been apprehended by jawans of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry from a place called Ningthoukhong in Bishenpur district and handed over to the police on October 6, 2007.

The 24-year-old film actress has been held under Section 17/20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act with the police suspecting that she could also be a member of an underground outfit. Devita was first arrested from a guesthouse in South Extension in the national capital along with R K Raghunath, alias Nongshaba, the self-styled captain of Kanglei Yawl Kanna Lup (KYKL), but let off. However, when she returned to Manipur a few days later, she was immediately arrested and whisked away by a team of police personnel. While the police sought remand of the actress for eight days, Chief Judicial Magistrate G Gaiphusiliu Kamei granted only a five-day police remand.

Reports quoting her family sources in Imphal said Devita, winner of a couple of state film awards, had gone to Delhi for a health check-up. Her mother Urikhinbam Umabati Devi was also quoted as having said that her daughter had no links with the KYKL or any other underground group.