By Paul Harris PUBLISHED: 18:48 EST, 25 November 2013 | UPDATED: 19:37 EST, 25 November 2013 The couple accused of keeping three women as slaves for 30 years ran a Maoist sect in the 1970s that recruited young female foreign students. Aravindan Balakrishnan and his wife Chanda were said to have put their followers under a ‘spell’. The pair were arrested last week after three women, who had allegedly suffered years of abuse, were rescued from a flat in Brixton. They called him Comrade Bala and their revolutionary cry was ‘Death to the British fascist state!’ Their base was a converted bookshop in Brixton, South London, where he and his followers would spread their Leftist poison and hatch plots against the Establishment.
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Aravindan Balakrishnan, 73, and his wife Chanda, 6, ran Maoist sect
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Accused couple 'were jailed for assaulting a Met officer' in 1978
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Their base was a converted bookshop in Brixton, South London
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Bala’s group was the inspiration for the comedy series Citizen Smith
South London
South London
It is understood some of the women who were part of the original commune later moved with the couple to various addresses in @placeholder.
Aravindan Balakrishnan
Comrade Bala
Aravindan Balakrishnan
Bala
It is not clear whether the 20 were connected to @placeholder – but it was perhaps an indication of the ideals held by those who shared his views.