Twelve more persons, including three minor boys, have been arrested in connection with the much-discussed violence and arson at Bhima Koregaon in Pune district, taking the total number of arrests to 29.
Having arrested 17 persons earlier, the Pune district police on Monday 12 more persons in connection with the January 1, 2018 incident, in which 29-year-old Rahul Phatangale was killed.
Incidentally, the police have not yet identified the persons arrested so far in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence. Nor have they clarified if any one has been arrested in connection with the death of Phatangale.
Of the 12 persons arrested, six have been booked for their alleged involvement in rioting, while three persons have been charged with attempt to murder. The three juveniles have been booked for allegedly taking part in the disturbances.
Nine of the eleven arrested persons were on Tuesday produced before a Pune court which remanded them in police custody till January 10. The three minor boys will be produced before Juvenile court.
The investigators made the latest arrests after examining the CCTV footage and other evidence that they obtained from the incident site.
It may be recalled that thousands of Dalits had gathered at Bhima Koregaon in Pune district on January 1, to celebrate the 200th anniversar5y of January 1, 1818 victory of British troops over Peshwa Bajirao II's army in Koregaon Bhima. Some activists opposing the celebrations, allegedly belonging to a couple of right-wing organisations from Pune, had hurled stones at the gathering, leading to violence at violence and arson. In the disturbances that followed, nearly vehicles were set on fire in the village. Ahead of the celebration, the police ahead registered a case against 49 persons from the neighbouring village under the Atrocities Act.
Police said that among the 12 persons arrested on Monday, six belonged to the Kabir Kala Manch, a radical cultural group, for allegedly making "provocative" remarks at the “Elgaar Parishad” held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, a day before the Koregaon Bhima incident.
The Pune police had earlier registered cases against Gujarat’s newly elected MlA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and JNU student leader Umar Khalid under under sections 153-A ( promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race ... etc), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 117 (abetting commission of an offence) for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at the “Elgaar Parishad” organised at Shanivarwada on December 31. Acting on a complaint by one Akshay Gautamrao Bhidkar, Pune’s Vikrambaug police registered a FIR against Mevani and Khalid for allegedly “inciting” enmity between different groups.
Among other things, Bhidkar had in his complaint objected to Mevani’s following remarks in the latter’s speech: “If we have to score a victory over new Pashwas then we have to take the 200-year-old BhimaKoregaon struggle forward. If we are to take the struggle forward or get inspired January 1, 1818 struggle, there should not be electoral politics in it.”
The other remarks by Mevani that the complainant had referred to in his complaint were: “But, all the same, I feel that some people who are part of this struggle should also be in the Assemblies of Maharashtra and Gujarat and also Parliament. But, if we are wage against castes, then we will have to take to streets to crusade for it.
The dominance of one caste over the other can only be eliminated by battling it out on the streets”.
The remarks made by Khalid at the rally that Bhidkar objected to, were: “We can convert the Bhima-Koregaon struggle into our future. It is time for us to retaliate against those who attacked Dalits (at Bhima-Korergaon). Waging the battle and winning it will be a real tribute martyrs who laid down their lives during the January 1, 1818 Bhima-Koregaon struggle”.
The complaint went on to add that “incited” by the speeches made by Mevani and Khalid, some anti-social elements hurled stones at the memorial set up Bhima Koregaon to celebrate the victory of the 200th anniversary of the the January 1, 1818, victory of British troops over Peshwa Bajirao II's army at Bhima Koregaon and indulged in violence and arson on January 1.