E-Paper
Sambhaji Bhide’s name dropped in Bhima Koregaon violence case, police tell SHRC
PUNE The Pune rural police, on Wednesday, informed the Maharashtra state human rights commission (SHRC), that in absence of evidence against Sambhaji Bhide, his name has been “dropped” in the Bhima Koregaon violence case by not chargesheeting him for riots which took place on January 1, 2018 in Pune
PUNE The Pune rural police, on Wednesday, informed the Maharashtra state human rights commission (SHRC), that in absence of evidence against Sambhaji Bhide, his name has been “dropped” in the Bhima Koregaon violence case by not chargesheeting him for riots which took place on January 1, 2018 in Pune.
The Pune police had filed a chargesheet in September 2021, in which they named 41 people sans Bhide due to the absence of evidence against him.
Besides Bhide, another hardline Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote was among the several accused who were booked under various sections of IPC and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act who were accused of “orchestrating” the violence during the bicentennial event to commemorate the Koregaon-Bhima battle in Pune district on January 1, 2018.
The case against Bhide and Ekbote was lodged after dalit activist Anita Sawale had filed a complaint, accusing them of instigating the violence, which claimed one life and left several others injured.
“We submitted this information to the commission. The name of Bhide has not been included in chargesheet since there is no evidence against him so far,” said Pune superintendent of police Abhinav Deshmukh.
The said case was registered with the Shikrapur police station.
A lawyer had filed a complaint with the Maharashtra state human rights commission about the progress in the Koregaon Bhima violence case in and while replying to the commission, the Pune rural police informed the commission that since there was not enough evidence against Bhide, he was excluded and was not charge-sheeted in the case.
The charge sheet in the case was registered by Pune rural police on September 22, 2021, against 41 people including Ekbote.
