Police charge activists with waging war against nation
Pune cops also invoke sedition charge for alleged Maoist links, public prosecutor says not an ordinary case
former Prime Minister’s rural development fellow, Mahesh Raut.
Police have also booked five alleged members of the banned outfit, CPI (Maoist) -- Milind Teltumbde, Ritupan Goswami, Prashanto Bose, Manglu and Dipu -who are all described as absconding. Last week, police filed a charge sheet against these 10 people under provisions of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for allegedly fomenting violence and conspiring to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On August 28, the police made another round of arrests in the Elgar Parishad case, involving poet Varavara Rao, activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves. Navlakha is out on bail. No charge sheet has been filed against these five.
“This case is not an ordinary one. This is the case, where the integrity and unity of the country is in danger and that is why section 124 (A), 121 and 121 (A) of Indian Penal Code have been added by the investigating officer in the charge sheet filed against the accused, including the five activists who were arrested in June this year,” Pawar said.
Pune police confirmed that additional charges of sedition and waging war against the state had been added against people accused “in the Elgar Parishad case” but refused to separately confirm whether it included the five people arrested in August.
Shivaji Pawar, investigating officer in the case, said, “We have invoked these charges in the Elgar Parishad case itself. So whoever is booked in the case will face these charges. This has been done after evaluation of all the evidence gathered so far.”
Attempts to reach Bhardwaj and Navlakha were unsuccessful. “Adding fresh charges are just a deflection tactics by the prosecution. In my view once the trial begins, these charges will not hold ground...,” said advocate Rohan Nahar, who represents Varavara Rao.
Police say the Elgar Parishad meeting was used to plan and foment violence in Bhima Koregaon, a small village where Dalits congregate every year to mark a victory in a British-era war. This year on January 1, violence broke out in Bhima Koregaon, resulting in the death of one person. The next day, Dalit groups across the country clashed with police in violent protests. PUNE: Maoist ideologue and Telugu writer Varavara Rao wanted to procure arms to create unrest in the country, prosecution told a Pune sessions court on Sunday, seeking custody of the poet. Judge K D Vadane remanded Rao in police custody till November 26.
After arresting him on Saturday evening from his residence in Hyderabad, the Pune police produced Rao in court on Sunday amid tight security. Seeking police custody of Rao for 14 days, special public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar told the court that the investigation has revealed that Rao has a direct “nexus” with the top underground Maoist leaders and he was directly involved in various Maoist activities; from “smuggling arms and ammunition from Nepal and Manipur”, to “recruiting students for the Naxal activities” and aiding “urban naxal movements”.
Rao along with four others was arrested by police in August after which the Supreme Court put him under house arrest. It was only after the high court refused to grant him further relief that Rao was taken into custody by the Pune Police on November 18.
RAO ALONG WITH FOUR OTHERS WAS ARRESTED BY POLICE IN AUGUST AFTER WHICH THE SUPREME COURT PUT HIM UNDER HOUSE ARREST