Elgar Parishad event had no role in Bhima Koregaon violence: Top cop admits under oath

A senior official looking into caste violence against members of the Dalit community at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018, on oath, admitted that the Elgar Parishad event on December 31, 2017, which happened thirty kilometers away from the city of Pune had no part in the violence.

This crucial admission made by Sub-Divisional Police Officer Ganesh More in front of the two-person judicial commission looking into the violence shatters the allegations made against the 16 human rights advocates detained in a separate case by the Pune police and subsequently the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The two-member judicial commission, which is led by former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice JN Patel and includes former Maharashtra chief secretary Sumit Mullick, began hearings in early 2018. Since then, the commission has requested numerous extensions and has held regular hearings in Pune and Mumbai. Along with the victims, the state apparatus, including the police and intelligence unit, has filed affidavits.

The Pune Police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists before the transfer of the case to the NIA.

Sudhir Dhawale, a writer and Mumbai-based Dalit rights activist, and Mahesh Raut, a young activist from Gadchiroli who worked on displacement, Shoma Sen, former head of Nagpur University’s English literature department, advocates Arun Ferreira and Sudha Bharadwaj, activist-writer Varavara Rao, activist Vernon Gonsalves, prisoners’ rights activist Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, a UAPA expert and lawyer from Nagpur, tribal rights activist the late Father Stan Swamy, Delhi University professor Hany Babu, scholar and activist Anand Teltumbde, civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, Kabir Kala Manch members Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Ghaichor, and Jyoti Jagtap are the sixteen members arrested in the case.

Teltumbde, Bharadwaj, and Rao have been released on bail, but Swamy died last year allegedly as a result of the state’s negligence and failure to provide adequate medical care.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that these 16 people were actively involved in “provoking” the gathered crowd at Bhima Koregaon with their speeches and triggering violence on the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon. While three people have been released on bail and one person has died in custody, the remaining 12 remain imprisoned in Mumbai.

More, who recently retired, admitted in an ongoing deposition that began in April this year that the nine cases of atrocities filed within his jurisdiction and investigated by him had no role in the Elgar Parishad event.

“I did not come across any information or material to show that the incident of riots which took place on 1st January 2018, was a result of holding of Elgar Parishad on 31st December 2017 at Shaniwar Wada, Pune,” More responded to the question posed by advocate Rahul Makhare, appearing for one of the witnesses of the violence, according to a report by The Wire.

The report further cites another witness Ravindra Sengaonkar, an IPS-rank officer who retired recently and was the additional commissioner (south region) of Pune City Police at the time of the violence and says that he has been questioned by the commission in recent weeks.

When asked about the nature of the speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad event on December 31, 2017, Sengaokar stated that they were provocative and drew action against the speakers, particularly students’ rights activists Umar Khalid and Dontha Prashanth, Gujarat’s Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani, and journalist and anti-caste activist Sudhir Dhawale (already arrested in the case).

Sengaokar claimed that the nature of the speech was provocative and that this was obvious right away. However, he admitted that the police had not “immediately registered an arrest.”

This admission by Sengaokar is important because the defence lawyers in the Elgar Parishad case have always maintained that the case against rights activists was an “afterthought” done solely to falsely implicate human rights defenders.

These 16 have been charged with waging a war against the nation, being active members of the banned terror outfit CPI (Maoist), criminal conspiracy, and indulging in acts with an intent to strike terror in the minds of people using explosive substances.

The NIA in its draft charges sought to charge the accused under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court is yet to frame charges in the case, only after which trial would commence.

Following is the status of the sixteen arrested in the case:

Activist Sudhir Dhawale was one of the first people to be arrested in the case in June 2018. He is presently lodged at the Taloja prison and has been accused of being an active member of the terror outfit. In July this year, a special NIA court had rejected his bail plea.

Activist Rona Wilson was arrested in June 2018 from his home in Delhi and has been in jail since then. He has been described as one of the top brass of urban Maoists. His bail plea was rejected by the special court in July 2022. Wilson was granted temporary bail for 14 days by the special NIA court in September 2021 to attend a mass organised for the 30th day ritual following his father’s death. He surrendered at the end of the 14-day period.

Lawyer Surendra Gadling was arrested in 2018 and has been in jail since then. According to the NIA, Gadling is an active member of CPI (Maoist) and was involved in the fund-raising activities and disbursement of the same. NIA also alleged that Gadling guided the violence at Koregaon Bhima in Pune. He too was refused bail by the special court in July 2022.

Professor Shoma Sen was arrested in June 2018 and has been lodged in the Byculla women’s prison since then. She had in 2021 sought bail on medical grounds and rising COVID-19 cases. The special NIA court, however, rejected her bail plea. In July 2022, the court also rejected her plea seeking default bail.

Activist Mahesh Raut is accused of spreading Maoist ideology and attempting to recruit students to join the Naxalite movement. It is alleged by the NIA that Raut had passed on Rs 5 lakh to the co-accused in the case for the Elgar Parishad event. He was arrested in 2018 and is still behind bars. His default bail plea was rejected by the special court this year.

Eighty-two-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao was granted medical bail by the Supreme Court on August 10, 2022. Last year, the Bombay High Court had granted him temporary bail on medical grounds. He was arrested in August 2018 and was in jail till February 2021 when HC granted him temporary bail. He is accused of being a senior and active member of the banned group.

Social activist and lawyer Arun Ferreira was arrested in the case in August 2018 and is presently lodged at the Taloja prison. He had sought default bail in the case but it was rejected by both the special court and the Bombay High Court in February this year. Ferreira is accused of taking an active part in the Maoist movement.

Vernon Gonsalves was arrested in the case in August 2018 and is presently lodged at the Taloja prison. His bail plea was rejected by both the special court and the high court following which he approached the Supreme Court seeking bail.

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj is the only accused in the case who is out on default bail that was granted to her by the Bombay High Court in December 2021. She was arrested in August 2018 and was in jail till December 2021 when she was released on bail. As per NIA, Bharadwaj was an active member of CPI (Maoist).

Anand Teltumbde, an activist and scholar, was arrested by the NIA in April 2020 after he surrendered following no relief of anticipatory bail from the Supreme Court. He is presently lodged at the Taloja prison and his bail plea has been rejected by the special court.

Seventy-year-old activist Gautam Navlakha was arrested in the case in August 2018 and has been lodged at the Taloja prison since then. In October 2021, he was shifted to the Anda Cell (high security barracks) and has been kept in solitary confinement since then, his partner Sahba Husain had claimed.

Delhi University associate professor, Hany Babu was arrested in July 2020 in the case and is presently lodged at the Taloja prison. He recently moved HC seeking bail which is yet to be heard. The NIA has accused Babu of being a co-conspirator in propagating Maoist activities and ideology on the instructions of CPI (Maoist) leaders.

Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, 83, died while in judicial custody. He had sought medical bail from the HC. Pending hearing of the same, he was shifted to a private hospital where he died on July 5, 2021. He was arrested by the NIA in October 2020 and was lodged at the Taloja prison till he was shifted to a private hospital in May 2021.

Sagar Gorkhe, a singer and anti-caste activist was arrested by the NIA in September 2020. He is presently lodged at the Taloja prison.

Ramesh Gaichor was arrested by the NIA along with Gorkhe and is also lodged at the Taloja prison. The duo is accused of being part of a group that organised the Elgar Parishad meeting where inflammatory speeches were made.

Jyoti Jagtap, a member of the Kabir Kala Manch, was arrested in September 2020 on the charge of propagating Naxalite activities and Maoist ideology. She is presently lodged at the Byculla women’s prison in Mumbai.

(With excerpts from PTI).