Elgar Parishad: NCP chief wants SIT probe into cop action against activists

Nearly two years after Pune police arrested several activists and lawyers as the prime accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief

Nearly two years after Pune police arrested several activists and lawyers as the prime accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday sought the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to initiate a fresh probe into the case, claiming that the police “misused” their power.

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Terming the arrest of activists in the Elgar Parishad case “wrong” and “vengeful”, Pawar on Saturday said he would speak to the chief minister to set up an SIT under a retired judge. Speaking at a press conference in Pune, Pawar said, “The arrest of the activists is an infringement and calls for the suspension of Pune police chief K Venkatesham and other officers involved in the probe. We will be asking Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to form an SIT to investigate the Elgar Parishad case properly. The police have misused their powers while imposing the sedition act...One of the Apex court judges has pressed for an SIT to investigate the case. This has raised questions over the act of the police officers. ”

Though CM Thackeray has not reacted to the demand, the state government is expected to take a cautious stand on the matter ahead of the second anniversary of the violent clashes, and in the wake of the beginning of the trial in the court.

Pawar’s demand holds significance as he is seen as an architect of the three-party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance, which has formed the government in Maharashtra.

“If the political leadership does not intervene at the right stage, the police officers may tend to go on suppressing the voices of the unprivileged, suppressed people and activists fighting for them,” Pawar said.

Pune police had in July and August 2018 arrested nine activists — Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao — in connection with the Elgar Parishad conclave, held in the city on December 31, 2017. The police alleged that the conclave was supported by Maoists and inflammatory speeches made at the event had led to the violence at the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial in the district the next day.

When asked about the alleged plot to harm the prime minister, Pawar said the same can be probed too. “In public life, we face such life threats. Even I have received such threats, but never took them this seriously or booked the person under sedition act,” the NCP supremo said, adding, “The arrests are highly inappropriate… It is wrong to imprison the activists on the charge of sedition…The activists having mere literature on Maoist ideology does not mean they were involved in such activities.”