Raids carried out by Pune Police in the Bhima-Koregaon case has taken a shocking turn. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s phone number was reportedly mentioned in one of the letters Pune Police seized. Pune Police is likely to question the senior Congress leader in connection with their ongoing investigation in Bhima Koregaon raids case.
As per reports, Pune Police suspect that the ‘Congress leader’ referred in the letters recovered from the homes of suspected Maoists could be Digvijaya Singh. One of the letters recovered mentioned that the senior Congress leadership has promised all possible legal and financial help through the conduit ‘Jignesh’. The letter also mentioned that Congress has promised the release of political prisoners like comrade Kobad and comrade Sai (Professor GN Saibaba).
Pune Police claims that the number enlisted by the Maoists in another letter as that of a ‘friend’ belongs to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. Since the investigation is still on and a major part of the same is pending, Singh may be called in for questioning.
The letter dated 27th September 2017 was written by one ‘Com Prakash’ to ‘Com Surendra’ (believed to be Surendra Gadling, Nagpur-based lawyer arrested earlier this year) who claims that certain Congress leaders were willing to assist in the efforts to organise a nation-wide protest through students in the country. The contents of the letter are still under investigation.
Meanwhile, Singh has ‘dared’ the government to arrest him. According to reports, the letter also talks about funding they are allegedly getting from Congress leaders. Hence, Pune Police suspects that Congress leaders mentioned in the letters are supporting the Naxal movement.
Earlier this year, violence had broken out in the Pune district, prior to the 200th celebration of a British victory over the Peshwas. This ‘victory’ has been spun by leftist historians as a ‘victory of Dalits’, owing to the British army supposedly comprising of Dalits and other lower castes while the ruling Peshwas were Brahmins.
In August 2018, several raids were conducted against supposed Naxal sympathizers in connection with the violence at Bhima Koregaon last year and an assassination plot to murder Prime Minister Modi. Several have been arrested in the case. Earlier, Pune court had rejected the bail application of Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves and they were subsequently taken into custody.
