Three Naxal leaders charged in the Elgar Parishad – Bhima Koregaon case have been denied bail by a special court in Delhi, citing evidence that the trio, along with other members of the banned CPI (Maoist), plotted “serious conspiracy” to cause disturbance in the country and overthrow the Modi government, reports PTI.
The bail to the accused namely Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, and Jyoti Jagtap, all members of the Kabir Kala Manch, was denied by the special NIA court judge D E Kothalika on February 14, Monday. The detailed order was made available on February 17, Thursday.
According to the court, a letter on record prima facie reveals that the CPI (Maoist) was hell-bent on eliminating the “Modi raj” and that they were planning another incident similar to the assassination of previous Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by targeting PM Narendra Modi’s road shows.
“From the letters and documents 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 court said.
The evidence on record prima facie shows that the accused were not only members of the banned CPI (Maoist), but that they were also carrying out acts that furthered the organization’s goal, which is to undermine the nation’s democracy, the court added.
“The contents of the aforesaid letter prima facie speaks that the CPI (Maoist) was bent upon ending the Modi raj, that is the Modi-led government. Not only this, but they were also thinking to go for another incident, like the death of Rajiv Gandhi, by targeting the roadshows of Modi,” the court furthered while referring to the letter placed on record.
“If these allegations are taken into consideration in proper perspective, in that case, there will be no hesitation to prima facie conclude that there is prima facie case against the applicants that they have done an act with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India and with intent to strike terror in a section of the people in India by other means to likely to cause death of, or injuries to, any person or persons,” the court added.
The court went on to say that the evidence on record prima facie demonstrates that the applicants were actively involved in the planning of the Elgar Parishad summit in Pune.
The three aforementioned accused, Jagtap, Gorkhe and Gaichor were arrested in September 2020 and have been in custody since then.
Letters recovered by Pune police hinted at a ‘Rajiv Gandhi type incident’ being planned
It may be recalled that a letter was unearthed by Pune Police in 2018 suggesting plans to assassinate Prime Minister Modi in a “Rajiv Gandhi type incident” by “targeting road shows”. The police had then sought custody for the five people arrested and booked them under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act namely, Delhi based activist Rona Wilson, advocate Surendra Gadling, professor Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut from Nagpur and Mumbai’s Sudhir Dhavle.
Without naming Modi, public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar had then told the court that the email talked about “another Rajiv Gandhi type incident”. Pawar also submitted a letter which the police had claimed to have recovered from the laptops of those arrested.
Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case
The Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case pertains to an event organised at Shaniwar Wada by Kabir Kala Manch called Elgar Parishad on December 31, 2017. On the next day (January 1, 2018), violence took place at Bhima Koregaon, where lakhs of Dalits had gathered to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon, won by the British Army—comprising mostly soldiers from the Dalit community—against the Peshwas in 1818. On January 8 Pune Police lodged an FIR and the probe revealed that the event was organised by urban Naxals. A number of Naxal ideologues and urban Naxals were arrested including Stan Swamy, Hany Babu, Sudha Bharadwaj, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha.
