Elgar Parishad case – Police framing me for fighting on behalf of Dalits, tribals : Gadling

Last updated Oct 12, 2018

NP NEWS NETWORK

Pune

Advocate Surendra Gadling, arrested for his alleged Maoist links and role in organising Elgar Parishad a day before the Koregaon Bhima violence, on Wednesday argued on his bail application in the Pune district court. The case is being heard in the court of additional sessions judge K D Wadne. Other accused Prof Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhawle were also present in the court.
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Gadling argued, “The government is trying to suppress the battle for justice that I have fought for the dalits, tribals, that is why I have been implicated in a false case. Pune police claim that they had found a letter mentioning plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just like Rajiv Gandhi. But have they taken any steps after the letter was found. Why they have not filed a separate case for this so called conspiracy. The Chief Minister had said that there no relation between Bhima Koregaon violence and Elgar Parishad, then why police is linking them.”

The prosecution will now file their say on his bail application on October 12. Police have also opposed bail application filed by Sudha Bhardwaj, which is under house arrest in Delhi.
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Elgar Parishad was held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017 ahead of the 200th commemoration of battle of Bhima Koregaon. The next day ie on January 1 when lakhs of people mostly from Dalit community had gathered at Koregaon Bhima, there was large scale violence in which one Maratha youth was killed while properties worth crores were damaged.

Based on complaint from one Tushar Damgude, Vishrambaug police station had registered case against organisers of Elgaar Parishad who included Harshali Potdar, Sudhir Dhawale of Republican Panthers (RP), Mumbai and Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap, Deepak Dhengle of the Pune based Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) which is accused of being frontal organisation of banned CPI (Maoist).
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There was another case against Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani and student leader Umar Khalid for allegedly giving provocative speeches during at the Elgaar Parishad.

According to police, the Parishad was organised as part of Maoist strategy to mobilise people against the elected government and spread violence.

After a thorough investigation, police arrested
Rona Wilson in Delhi, lawyer Surendra Gadling in Nagpur, Sudhir Dhawle in Mumbai, Professor Shoma Sen and former Prime Minister Rural Development (PMRD) fellow Mahesh Raut in Nagpur in June 6.

Police have also booked four underground Maoist operatives Milind Teltumbde, Prakash alias Ritupam Goswami, Manglu and Deepu for allegedly planning to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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They have been booked for offences under Indian Penal Code sections153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and IPC sections 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) and 117 (Abetting commission of offence by the public) and stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).