Prosecution opposes NIA's plea for transfer of Elgar case

Mumbai: In an indication that the Maharashtra government is against handing over the investigation into the Bhima-Koregaon riots to the National Investigation Agency, the prosecution Friday opposed the application filed by the NIA in a Pune court seeking transfer of the case to a special NIA court in Mumbai.

After hearing the arguments, additional Sessions Judge S.R. Navandar reserved order on the NIA’s plea till February 14. The court was hearing the NIA’s application for transfer of the case. The agency had moved the court after the Union government transferred the probe to the central agency.

The Centre last month transferred the probe from the Pune police to the NIA, a decision, which the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra criticised. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray stated that the Union government should have taken the state government into confidence before handing over the probe to the NIA.

The prosecution opposed the NIA application on grounds of jurisdiction. The prosecution said that the reasons given by the central probe agency in its application were “not legal and were insufficient” to transfer the case to the special NIA court.

It also contended that the offence had been committed within the local jurisdiction of the local court; the charge sheet had been filed and draft charges had also been filed and the matter had been fixed for framing of charges.

The case is related to speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which allegedly triggered the violence next day near the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial in the district.

Pune police has claimed that the conclave was backed by Maoists, and the speeches made there triggered the violence. During the probe, the police arrested activists Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsal-ves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao for alleged Maoist links.