In an early morning swoop, the Maharashtra police on Tuesday conducted simultaneous raids in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur on residences of various Dalit leaders and other functionaries associated with the Elgaar Parishad ahead of the January 1, 2018 Bhima-Koregaon riots over their alleged links with the Maoists.
As part of the raids that 5 am, the police searched the Pune-based residences of some activists belonging to the leftist outfit Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) and Republican Panthers Party like Ramesh Gaychor and Sagar Gorkhe.
In Nagpur, the police searched residence of senior lawyer Surendra Gadling, who has over the past two decades been appearing for several alleged Naxal sympathisers and activists like former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba.
In Mumbai, searches were conducted on the residences of Dalit and left activists including Sudhir Dhawale, Harshali Potdar and Jyoti Jagtap. They carried out searches at various places after producing search warrants. The police carried away laptops, literature and pamphlets from the places that they raided.
Simultaneously, reports said that the residence of activist Rona Wilson was searched in New Delhi.
Tuesday’s raids were a fallout of a complaint registered against the KKM and other activists for organising the Elgaar Conference in Pune.
Reacting to Tuesday’s raids, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh Prakash Ambedkar said that the raids did not hold much of any significance, considering that the State Government had so far not arrested the alleged accused behind the Bhima-koregaon riots Sambhaji Bhide alias Bhide Guruji.
Ambedkar had on March 26 organised a huge Dalits’ rally in Mumbai, demanding the arrest of Bhide Guruji for allegedly “instigating the Bhima-Koregaon riots.