A plea at the Bombay High Court has sought the transfer of the Bhima-Koregaon violence case from the Pune police to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The petition by Satish Gaikwad, filed through Advocate Nitin Satpute, alleged that the Pune police had come up with a new story that the violence was instigated by the Elgar Parishad organisers. It said the police put forward this claim despite registering an FIR and arresting prime accused Milind Ekbote, who is currently in judicial custody.
The plea said intellectuals and lawyers are being arrested on the whims and fancies of the Pune police. It sought a transfer of the investigation from the Vishrambaug police station to the NIA, and a stay on the FIR that led to the arrests of activists Surendra Gadling, Dr. Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale. The police had no right to probe the case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the petition said.
On January 8, Tushar Damgude, a businessman from Pune, lodged an FIR with the Pune police against the organisers of the Elgar Parishad for making provocative speeches that allegedly led to the riots at Bhima-Koregoan on January 1 this year.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and Mridula Bhatkar is likely to hear the matter on Monday.