A team of the Pune police on Wednesday conducted searches at the residence of human rights activist Stan Swamy in Ranchi, Jharkhand, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad case and for having alleged Maoist links.
He was, however, not taken into police custody.
Confirming the operation, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Swargate division) Shivaji Pawar, the investigating officer in the case, told The Hindu that the police had seized some electronic literature and other material from Father Swamy’s house in Ranchi’s Namkum area.
“We have not taken him into custody. We conducted this operation following a new development in the case,” said Mr. Pawar, refusing to elaborate on what the ‘new’ leads were that led to the police raid on the octogenarian activist’s house for a second time.
Earlier, on August 28 last year, police conducted raids at Father Swamy’s residence along with that of six other academics and activists known for their dissenting views against the powers that be and their work among the dispossessed.
Father Swamy runs a school for adivasi children and a technical training institute on his residential premises. A vocal critic of the Jharkhand government, he is known for his work among the tribals of Jharkhand through his NGO Bagaicha.
In 2016, he released an expose following a study of undertrials in Jharkhand that showed that an overwhelming majority of tribals languishing in jails were allegedly falsely implicated and arrested for protesting against the violation of their constitutional and human rights.
Raids in 2018
On August 28 last year, the houses of activists Sudha Bharadwaj, P. Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde were raided along with that of Father Swamy as part of the second crackdown by the Pune police on alleged ‘Maoist sympathisers’ during their investigation into the Bhima-Koregaon clashes.
Four of them, including Ms. Bharadwaj, Mr. Rao, Mr. Gonsalves and Mr. Ferreira, have since been arrested and are at present lodged in the city’s Yerwada Jail.
Earlier, on June 6 last year, the city police, in its first nationwide crackdown in the case had arrested five activists, including Dalit publisher Sudhir Dhawale, advocate Surendra Gadling, Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen and activists Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson for their alleged links with the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and their roles in the ‘Elgaar Parishad’ and the Bhima-Koregaon clashes.