10 arrests in 8 months of Bhima-Koregaon riots

MUMBAI: On January 8, seven days after the Bhima Koregaon violence in Pune, the city police filed an FIR claiming that provocative speeches made at the Elgar Parishad on December 31 led to the Bhima -Koregaon riots.

The Elgar Parishad was organised by former Bombay HC Judge BG Kolse Patil and retired Supreme Court Judge PB Sawant.

The FIR mentions the names of six people. While one was a Dalit activist, Sudhir Dhawale, the other five belonged to Kabir Kala Manch some of whose members have been accused by past governments of helping Maoists. On the basis of the FIR, Pune Police registered a case under Sections 153 (A) and 505 of the IPC, which pertain to creating enmity between communities.


On June 6, Pune Police moved swiftly and arrested Dhawale from Mumbai. However, they also arrested others whose names were not there in the FIR like Nagpur-based lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen from Nagpur and Rona Wilson from Delhi.

The Pune police claimed that besides inciting the Bhima Koregaon violence, the five have also been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The police alleged that they found communication from Rona Wilson’s home in Delhi on discussions about a ‘Rajiv Gandhi type incident’ and attempts to procure M4 rifles.

On August 28, Pune police arrested five more people from across the country –– Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao from Hyderabad and human rights activists Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.

Pune police claimed that the searches at their homes had provided them more evidence on how the accused were not only trying to ‘destabilise’ the government but also trying to ‘assassinate political figures’ and were in touch with Kashmiri separatists and planning to get arms and ammunition into the country from Russia and China via Nepal.

The Supreme Court has, however, intervened into the arrests made on August 28 and has directed that those arrested be kept under house arrest till September 6 when it hears their case.

Pune police have claim that they have strong evidence against all the accused like letters written by the accused to Maoists talking about the need for violence to target security forces.

Basically, the Pune police, within six months of the Bhima Koregaon riots, managed to unveil the conspiracy to not only create riots but also assassinate political figures and overthrow the government. It has managed to find out that arms were to be brought in the country for this purpose.