The Pune police on Thursday filed a 1,837-page supplementary chargesheet before a Pune court against five more persons, including human rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj and fugitive Maoist leader Ganapathy alias Chandrashekhar, in connection with the much-discussed Elgaar Parishad-cum- Bhima-Koregaon riots case.
Three months after they filed the first charge sheet against ten accused in the same case, the Pune police filed a comprehensive charge-sheet before ted before Additional Sessions Judge Kishor Vadane.
Apart from Bhardwaj and Ganapathy, the three other accused named in the supplementary chargesheet are, Telugu poet Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Pereira.
Like in the case of the earlier charge-sheet, the five activists have been charged under various relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 117 ( abetting commission of offence), 120-b ( conspiracy) read with 34 (common intention), 121, 121 (A) (Waging or attempting to wage a war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India) 124A (sedition), 153 –A (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot..) and 505-1b (statements conducing public mischief) of Indian Penal Code (IPC)
Confirming that a supplementary charge-sheet had been filed in the local court, Pune’s Joint Commissioner of Police Shivaji Bodkhe said on Thursday, “The evidence that we have produced against the five accused includes evidence retrieved from electronic devices seized from the arrested activists. We have charged them with waging war against the nation and spreading the ideology of their banned organisation and creating caste conflicts, disaffection and hatred in the society”.
On November 15 last year, the Pune police had filed the first chargesheet before a special court in Pune against 10 persons in the Bhima-Koregaon riots case, accusing them among other things of conspiring to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi and overthrow the democratically elected government in the country.
In their chargesheet filed before a Special Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Court in Pune ten weeks after the same court extended a 90-day deadline for filing the charge-sheet by another 90 days, the Pune police had named Sudhir P. Dhawale, Rona J Wilson, Surendra P Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh S. Raut as among the 10 persons. They had been arrested from various parts of the country on June 6.
The five other accused named in their charge-sheet as the absconding accused by the Pune police were M alias Milind Teltumbde from Yavatmal, Prakash alias Navin Alias Ritupan Goswami from Assam, Manglu, Dipu and Kishan Prashant Bose, all owing allegiance to the banned CPI (Maoists). The charge-sheet stated that these five accused had gone “underground” in various parts of the country.
The ten accused named in the first charge-sheet in the Bhima-Koregaon case have been charged under the same sections as is the case with the five accused, including Bhardwaj, against whom the supplementary charge-sheet was filed on Thursday.
The charge-sheet had stated that the five arrested activists --Dhawale, Wilson, Gadling, Shoma Sen and S. Raut –were linked to the CPI (Maoists) which carried out subversive activities through under-ground means. Human and civil rights organisations like Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), Anuradha Ghandi Memorial Committee (AGMC), Kabir Kala Manch, all of which set up legally, were supporting the outlawed CPI (Maoists)
According to the charge-sheet, accused number two Rona J Wilson had colluded with Shoma Sena and Prashanto Bose, secretary of the outlawed CPI (Maoist)’s Eastern Regional Bureau, along with other underground activists hatched a conspiracy to kill the Prime Minister of India.
Like in the case of the previous ten accused, the current five have been charged with “waging a war” against the nation.
Five Maoist-linked activists Human Rights activists Rona Wilson Jacob, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale, Prof Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut were arrested by the Pune police on June 6, in connection with the Elgaar Parishad and subsequent Bhima-Koregaon caste riots.
Subsequently on June 8, the investigators had claimed that they had recovered from the laptop of Wilson an allegedly incriminating letter, which uncovered an alleged plot by the Maoists to carry out “Rajiv Gandhi-type” assassination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On August 28, the Pune police arrested five more activists Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Pereira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha for their association with the Elgaar Parishad held in Pune a day ahead of the January 1, 2018 Bhima-Koregaon riots and their alleged links with the Maoists.
It may be recalled that on January 1, one Rahul Phatangale (28), a Dalit, was killed and another 40-odd vehicles and some other property were damaged after some miscreants attacked Dalits celebrating the January 1, 1818 victory of British troops over Peshwa Bajirao II’s army at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district of western Maharashtra. Following the incident, Maharashtra had witnessed large-scale Dalit protests which turned violent at some places.