Maha set to review cases against Elgar Parishad accused

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 7

The Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra has decided to review the cases against nine Left-wing activists accused in the Elgar Parishad cases, according to sources.

Anil Deshmukh, Maharashtra’s new Home Minister who assumed office on Sunday, will soon meet senior bureaucrats and police officials to look into the cases filed against the activists after the violence at Bhima-Koregaon in January 2017, sources in the state government said.

The nine activists, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao, who have been arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, have been in jail for over a year.

The nine accused have filed a bail application in the Bombay High Court and the Maharashtra Home Department will have to decide on the stand taken by the Pune police in the matter, according to sources.

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, after a meeting with activists and members of non-governmental organisations wants a fresh probe into the case and wants a special investigation team to be set up for the purpose. The role of Pune Police Commissioner K Venkatasham, who played a major role in arresting the nine activists, has also come in for criticism by the NCP chief, according to sources.

Pawar had told reporters shortly after the formation of the Uddhav Thackeray government that the police personnel should not be allowed to harass those working for the underprivileged sections of society.

“People should not be prosecuted merely because some books were found in their possession…. I too have many books. There must be some Left-wing literature in my collection,” Pawar told reporters shortly after the formation of the MVA government.