The first pictures of a man arrested as part of a slavery investigation in South London have emerged.
Aravindan Balakrishnan in 1997 (ITV NEWS)
Comrade Bala, whose real name is Aravindan Balakrishnan, can be seen wearing a brown jacket and blue trousers as he attends the inquest into the death of commune member Sian Davies in 1997.
It comes as a Malaysian family came forward to claim that a woman allegedly held as a slave for 30 years is a relation who disappeared virtually without trace after joining a Maoist sect.
Kamar Mautum, a retired teacher, said she believed her 69-year-old sister, Aishah, was one of the women who had allegedly been held captive by the leaders of a 1970s Communist collective for 30 years.
Related ArticlesExclusive interview: I can heal Malaysian 'slave', says sister
26 Nov 2013Slavery case: Not all political extremists are mad – and I should know
26 Nov 2013My cousin's time in 'slave' commune
26 Nov 2013London slavery: Make-up was first request to restore humanity
25 Nov 2013Slavery case: the high-flying student who vanished into a Maoist sect
26 Nov 2013Maoist collective member died after falling out of a window
26 Nov 2013She said her disappearance had caused extreme heartache for her family.
Aishah had studied at one of Malaysia’s most elite schools, eventually winning a Commonwealth scholarship to study surveying in London.
A still from the ITV video shows Aravindan Balakrishnan being followed by two women (ITV NEWS)
She moved to Britain in 1968 with her fiancé and dreamed of balancing an exciting career with a family, but was soon involved in extremist politics, eventually giving up everything to follow a Maoist doctrine.
She allegedly fell under the spell of Balakrishnan and his partner Chanda, who were last week arrested on suspicion of holding three women against their will for more than three decades in south London.
Speaking from her home near Kuala Lumpur, Kamar said their mother’s dying wish had been to know what had happened to her daughter, who never returned.
Kamar told The Daily Telegraph: “I have felt so choked without her for years and years. She was so talented, she was the apple of my mother’s eye. She asked for her on her death bed.” She added: “When my mother died she
View the Original article
