Elgar Parishad case: Accused wanted to create unrest in country, says NIA court
Though the verdict was pronounced on Monday, the detailed order became available late in the evening on Wednesday.
Mumbai: “From the documents and letters placed on record, prima facie it can be gathered that the applicants along with other members of the banned organisation hatched a serious conspiracy to create unrest in the entire country and to overpower the government politically,” the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has said, while rejecting bail pleas of Kabir Kala Manch members Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor. They were arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case.
Though the verdict was pronounced on Monday, the detailed order became available late in the evening on Wednesday.
“The material placed on record thus prima facie denotes that the applicants were not only the members of the banned organisation, CPI (Maoist), but they were carrying out activities in furtherance of the objective of the organisation which is nothing but to overthrow the democracy of the nation,” special judge Dinesh E Kothalikar said.
“Therefore, I do not find merit in the arguments of the applicants that only because of being members of a banned organisation, the applicants cannot be kept in jail.”
The court said from the letters produced by the prosecution as evidence, prima facie it is clear that the CPI (Maoist) was bent upon to bring about the end of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
“They were also thinking of going for another incident like the death of Rajiv Gandhi, by targeting the road shows of Prime Minister Modi,” the court added.
In this regard, the NIA court took note of the submissions made by special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty, pointing out that everyone knows the manner in which Rajiv Gandhi was killed and there was no hesitation to prima facie conclude that there was intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India and with intent to strike terror in the minds of people.
The court also said that the statement of a witness clearly mentioned that the three Kabir Kala Manch members were involved in furthering activities of the terrorist association. “They have stayed in the Korchi-Kobramendha forest area for 20 days, and that they used to discuss party work in urban areas with deceased Milind Teltumbde. They have also undergone weapon and explosives training and attended awareness programmes on various topics related to the Maoist movement.”
The prosecution relied upon a letter to establish connection between Elgar Parishad and the activities of CPI (Maoist). The court said the letter written by Milind Teltumbde on January 2, 2018, prima facie established the link.
“A corollary to the aforestated deliberation is that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accusation of commission of the offences punishable under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the applicants prima facie true and considering the express bar imposed by section 43 D of the UAPA, the applicants cannot be released on bail,” the court said.
Advocates Nihal Singh Rathod and Sharif Shaikh argued that the trio had been implicated in the case without there being any evidence to demonstrate incriminating acts on their part. They contended that there was no material to show that the applicants had attempted to further any of the specific terrorist activities.
Jyoti Jagtap’s counsel pointed out that on January 1, 2018, more than 250 social organisations had held ‘Bhima Koregaon Shourya Din Abhiyan’ to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the historic battle of Bhima-Koregaon and on December 31, 2017, an event called “Elgar Parishad’ was organised at Shaniwarwada in Pune.
However, he said, on January 1, 2018, a mob bearing saffron flags attacked people travelling to and returning from the Vijay Stambha. A report was lodged by Anita Salve against Sambhaji Bhide, Milind Ekbote, and others under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code for the same. But, on January 8, 2018, another FIR was registered at Vishrambaug police station against the applicants and others. The complainant has relied upon speech by one of the accused, but it is recital from the play, “The Good Person of Szechwan”.
The defense counsel also relied upon a statement of then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis before the legislature that some 1,200 people holding saffron flags had assembled at village Wadu near the Samadhi of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.
They said the accused only criticised the government or some BJP or RSS leaders, and they did not constitute the nation and that did not constitute the charge of sedition.
