Pune/Nagpur/New Delhi: In a pre-dawn crackdown, special teams of Pune police, assisted by local counterparts, on Wednesday arrested five persons — Nagpur University’s associate professor in English dept, Soma Sen, criminal lawyer-cum-activist Surendra Gadling, Gadchiroli-based activist, Mahesh Raut, Mumbai-based Dalit activist and editor of Marathi magazine ‘Vidrohi’, Sudhir Dhawale, and a freelance research scholar from Delhi Rona Wilson in connection with Koregaon Bhima clashes nearly six months ago.
All the five have been booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity and rioting.
While Sen, Gadling and Raut were picked up from their residences in the city, Dhawale was arrested from his Deonar residence in Mumbai and Wilson from New Delhi. Soon after Dhawale’s arrest, some activists gathered outside the Deonar police station and raised slogans.
The trio from the city had already been under scanner for Maoist links.
Police had registered an offence at Vishram Baug police station in Pune against leaders of different front organizations who had organized ‘Elgaar Parishad’ with an aim to arouse the sentiments of backward communities.
On December 31 last year, members of another leading front organization Kabir Kala Manch had delivered inflammatory speeches during the ‘Elgaar Parishad’, organized to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle at Shaniwarwada in Pune.
A day later on January 1, there was outbreak of violence in Koregaon Bhima which left one dead. A Maharashtra bandh call issued by Bharipa Bahujan Mahajan Sangh leader Prakash Ambedkar and other parties on January 3 also claimed one life.
Gadling, rounded up from his residence at Bhim Chowk in Jaripatka, is alleged to have offered financial and other logistical help in organizing the ‘Elgaar Parishad’. A search was conducted at his place in April this year also.
It’s learnt that Raut, who is from Armori in North Gadchiroli, had shifted his base to the city to pursue doctoral research at Nagpur University. Raut had come under the lens of security agencies around five years ago while he was working as Fellow on Prime Minister’s Rural Development at Gadchiroli district. The programme was coordinated by former Union minister Jairam Ramesh of the Congress.
Cops had found Raut and Dhawale’s friend Harshali Potdar at a village in South Gadchiroli from where some Maoists were arrested. Raut is the most prominent anti-mining activist of Gadchiroli. He had led several agitations against Surjagarh mine and was active in organizing several national and international level symposia against government policies.
“During surveillance, Wilson’s name came to fore as a fund provider. During the raid, his laptop and some documents were seized. The data retrieved from his laptop shows his nexus with the Naxalites. Mails were sent to Maoists in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh,” Delhi police said.
Wilson, a Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus, has completed MPhil and is currently doing freelance research on social and political issues.
Later in the day, Gadling was flown to Pune while police procured a transit remand for Raut from a city court. Sen too was flown to Pune after search operation at her place in Bharat Nagar that went on for over eight hours. Sen’s husband, Tusharkant Bhattacharya, was arrested last year by Gujarat police for his alleged involvement in the Maoist movement. He was in jail for a considerable period.
Pune City joint CP Ravindra Kadam, said the searches had already yielded several incriminating documents, files, computer hard disks, pen drives and such materials which suggested complicity of the persons arrested on Wednesday.
Police have seized 27 items including incriminating documents, two computer hard disks, pen drives, four mobile phones, diaries and other literature from Sen’s residence and four-wheeler connecting her with the Koregaon Bhima agitation.
ACP Ganesh Gawade, who led the raids in the city, told TOI that incriminating evidence in the form of electronic devices has been recovered by the police. “Gadling and Soma will be produced before the court in Pune on Thursday,” he said.
Bhattacharya said that his wife Soma has no connection with ‘Elgaar Parishad’, which has been blamed for inciting violence. “The way police have raided and arrested Soma, who is a human rights activist, only shows the anti-democratic behaviour of the law enforcers,” he said.
Meanwhile, several lawyers and activists from the city condemned the police action saying it is a conspiracy by the fascist government. “The police crackdown is aimed at finishing the Dalit movement by targeting activists who are working for the downtrodden,” Anil Kale, lawyer.
“By arresting Gadling, Soma and Raut, the government is trying to shield the main culprits Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote as they are connected to Hindutva organizations,” Kale said.
Petition filed for quashing proceedings against Gadling
A petition has been filed before the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday seeking setting aside the charges and proceedings against all the activists arrested from Nagpur, especially Advocate Surendra Gadling, national president of Indian Association of People's Lawyers, in connection with the offences registered at Vishram Baug police station in Pune for inciting the Koregaon Bhima flare up.
The petition, which was filed by advocate Nihal Singh Rathod on behalf of Gadling's wife Minal, would be heard on Thursday. The petition said Gadling was being threatened during the hearing of his client Prof G N Saibaba’s petition by officers indicating that he too would be jailed in similar manner in future. Gadling had represented several alleged Maoist operatives in court cases.
