Express News Service
PUNE/MUMBAI: Arrests of the Maoists activists were effected only after a money trail from Naxal groups was established to the Elgaar Parishad was established, the Pune police have said.
"The Elgaar Parishad was held at Shaniwar Wada with the monitory help from Naxals," Joint Commissioner Pune City Police Ravindra Kadam told the media at a press conference on Thursday.
"We have strong evidence against the arrested Maoist activists. Explosive literature has been recovered from them during raids," Kadam said.
"Not all the 250 odd organizations that participated in the Elgaar Parishad were related to Maoists. But, the chief organizer Sudhir Dhawale and four-five other definitely had close links with the Naxals and money from them were used in organizing the Parishad," Kadam said while adding that the police have not said as yet that they had role in the Bhima-Koregaon violence on January 1.
"Police is investigating the angle of their involvement in the violence," he said.
Police have recovered a letter from Rona Wilson's computer which appears to have been written by fugitive Naxal leader Milind Teltumbde. The letter written in the month of January hails the Bhima Koragaon riots and also mentions some of the Congress leaders along with Bharip Bahujan Maha Sangh (BBMS) leader Prakash Ambedkar, Kadam said.
The electronic devices seized from Gadling and Wilson were being forensically examined, Kadam added.
Meanwhile, all the Maoist activists arrested by police yesterday have been sent to police custody by the local court in Pune.
Those arrested include noted Dalit activist-publisher Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai, prominent human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling, tribal activist Mahesh Raut and Nagpur University English professor Shoma Sen from Nagpur, and activist Rona Wilson from New Delhi.
.jpg)