PUNE: A special court here on Thursday remanded four of the five persons arrested for their suspected links with the CPI (Maoist) in judicial custody till July 4.
The four accused can now move bail applications. The Pune police had arrested
Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, activist Rona Wilson, PMRD fellow Mahesh Raut, academician Soma Sen and lawyer Surendra Gadling in a simultaneous pre-dawn action in Mumbai, Delhi and Nagpur on June 6 in relation to an offence of provocative speeches at the Elgar Parishad, held a day before the January 1 violence at Koregaon Bhima.
The police case is that these speeches contributed to the violence and that all the accused had direct links with the Maoist outfit that encouraged and funded the Elgar Parishad.
Special judge A S Bhaisare ordered the remand of Dhawale, Wilson, Sen and Raut in judicial custody, while Gadling remains in police custody till the term of his remand ends.
On June 7, the court had remanded the five accused in police custody for a week after the prosecution cited police probe and submitted that a letter suggesting a Maoist plot to execute a “Rajiv Gandhi-type incident: was recovered from the electronic device seized from one of these accused.
Later, Gadling was removed to hospital under judicial custody on medical grounds. The police secured back his custody after he was discharged.
During the June 14 hearing, the prosecution had sought an extended custody of 14 days under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for the four accused. But the court granted custodial remand for another one week. The custody ended on Thursday.
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