Elgar Parishad- Bhima Koregaon case: Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves remanded to 14 days judicial custody

Pune: NP NEWS 24 ONLINE  – A special court on Tuesday remanded Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, all three accused in Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

Ferreira informed the judge that he was beaten up during custodial interrogation. Police officers slapped him several times in custody.

Pune city police had arrested Ferriera and Gonsalves on October 26. Sudha Bhardwaj will be arrested on October 27. All them were in house arrest since August.

Earlier in June police had arrested advocate Sudhir Gadling (49) of Nagpur, Sudhir Pralhad Dhawale (50) of Mumbai, Rona Jacob Wilson (47) of New Delhi, Prof Dr. Shoma Sen (58) of Nagpur and Mahesh Sitaram Raut (31) of Nagpur. They are currently lodged in Yerwada Central Jail.

The police have informed the court the accused advocate Surendra Gadling and others are being prosecuted for very serious offence that they have provoked terrorism and responsible for communal tension in the State of Maharashtra. Due to their unlawful activities, violence occurred at Bhima-Koregaon and they have connections with Communist Part of India (Mao), the banned organization.

Elgar Parishad was organised on December 31, 2017, at Shaniwarwada, Pune, a day before the violence at Koregaon-Bhima on January 1,2018, during commemoration of 200 years of a war there.

According to police, the accused persons are facing prosecution under sections 153A, 505(1)(B), 117, 120B r/w section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and under sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 18B, 20, 38, 39 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Most of the accused are arrested in the month of June, 2018 on different dates and at present, they are in judicial custody.