Bhima Koregaon: NIA files charge-sheet against eight, accuses them of waging war against state
Mumbai: The NIA on Friday filed a supplementary charge-sheet against eight people, including activists Gautam Navlakha and 82-year-old Father Stan Swamy, for their alleged involvement in inciting a mob to violence in Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1, 2018 and accused them of waging war against the state, officials said.
The 10,000-page charge-sheet, filed before a court here, brings in both the threat of Maoists for an urban revolution and Pakistan's ISI, alleging that the eight were involved in spreading the ideology of Maoism/Naxalism and encouraging lawless activities.
The National Investigation Agency said its probe showed a "systematic network of Maoists that operated for the supply of arms and ammunition and had a close nexus with other banned proscribed organisations within and outside India". Navlakha is alleged to have links with Pakistan's ISI, according to the NIA.
Ahead of filing the chargesheet, the NIA arrested Swamy, who said he has never been to Bhima Koregaon, from his home in Ranchi on Thursday evening and brought him to Mumbai where he was produced before a court on Friday and remanded to judicial custody till October 23.
Swamy, the sixteenth person to be arrested in the case, is possibly the oldest person to be charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), officials said.
Barring one person Milind Teltumbde who is absconding all other named in the charge-sheet are in judicial custody.
Besides Navlakha and Swamy, the others named in the charge-sheet are Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu, Goa Institute of Management professor Anand Teltumbde, and Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, activists of the Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyaan group.
They were arrested during the course of the investigation into the violence on January 1, 2018 in which one person was killed and several injured after clashes at the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Koregaon near Pune.
Pune Police has alleged the violence was caused following provocative speeches by members of the group Elgar Parishad the day before on December 31, 2017.
Terming the CPI(Maoist) a terrorist organisation, the charge-sheet said the eight conspired with other accused to further the group's ideology, abetted violence, brought into hatred and incited disaffection towards the government established by law and promoted enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, caste and community .
According to the NIA, the strategy and tactics adopted by Maoists to carry out an urban revolution with their frontal outfits has also been revealed during the investigation.
Besides, funding activities of Maoist cadres and their sympathisers to carry out Maoist work in rural as well urban areas have come to the fore, it said.
This is the third charge-sheet filed by an investigating agency in the case. Pune Police had earlier filed charge-sheets in this case on December 15, 2018 and February 21, 2019 against 15 people.
The NIA said the role of various frontal organisations of the CPI (Maoist) emerged during the investigation. The agency alleged that incriminating documents were recovered from the accused. These include discreet communications with other Maoist cadres over the conspiracy in the violence at Bhima Koregaon, the charge-sheet stated.
Various documents on the mobilisation of Maoist cadres against the constitutionally established government, information on the movement of security forces with the intention of causing heavy damage to the state were also found, it said.
Detailing individual charges, the NIA said Milind Teltumbde organised training camps for imparting weapons training to the other accused.
Navlakha's active role and involvement was revealed in secret communications with the CPI (Maoist) cadres and he was assigned the task of uniting intellectuals against the government, the charge-sheet alleged.
"His links with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) also came to fore," an NIA spokesperson said.
Anand Teltumbde was one of the convenors of "the Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyan" and was present at the December 31 event of the Elgar Parishad.
He is alleged to have played an active role with other Maoist cadres and received funds from them for carrying out the activities.
Hany Babu Is alleged to have been instrumental in organising visits of foreign journalists to CPI (Maoist) areas. He was also in contact with the banned terrorist organisation Kanglepak Communist Party (KCP) of Manipur and made efforts for the release of convicted accused G N Saibaba on the directions of the CPI (Maoist) and also raised funds for the purpose, the NIA said.
The agency alleged that Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap are trained cadres of the CPI (Maoist) and members of its frontal organisation Kabir Kala Manch.
Swamy, the NIA claimed, was also actively involved in the activities of the CPI (Maoist).
The NIA alleged that he was in contact with "conspirators" -- Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde -- to further the group's activities.
The agency said Swamy had also received funds through an associate for furthering the agenda. Besides, he is convenor of the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), a frontal organisation of the CPI(Maoist), the officials claimed.
Swamy's lawyer Sharif Shaikh said his client was produced physically before the court. "The NIA did not seek his custody. He is aged. We will peruse the papers and file for a bail," he said.
Ahead of his arrest in the evening, Swamy posted a video on Thursday morning saying the NIA had been interrogating him and had questioned him for 15 hours during a span of five days.
"Now they want me to go to Mumbai, which I have said that I won't go," he said, citing the pandemic. The video, posted on YouTube, was recorded two days before his arrest.
"I have never been to Bhima Koregaon for which I am being made an accused," he said.
"...what is happening to me is not something unique happening to me alone, it is a broader process taking place all over the country. We all are aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, student leaders are all put in jail because they have expressed their dissent or raised questions about the ruling powers of India," Swamy said in the video.
He said he is part of "the process" and in a way happy to be so because he is not a silent spectator and is part of the game.
"I am ready to pay the price whatever be it," Swamy said.
The NIA took up the investigation of the case on January 24, 2020. It said it brought reliable, material and documentary evidence on record through "meticulous, scientific and detailed analysis of more than 10,000 pages of communications made by various accused".
"NIA's investigation revealed that the tentacles of conspiracy were not only spread throughout the country but also extended beyond India," an NIA spokesperson said.
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Nearly 61 per cent turnout in phase 2 of LS polls; Tripura records 78.53 pc, Manipur 77.18
New Delhi, Apr 26: Nearly 61 per cent polling was reported in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections covering 88 seats across 13 states amid few complaints of EVM glitches and bogus voting in some states.
Voters in some villages of Uttar Pradesh's Mathura, Rajasthan's Banswara and Maharashtra's Parbhani were boycotting the polls over various issues but were later persuaded by authorities to cast their franchise.
Polling for the second stage of the seven-phase elections started at 7 am and ended at 6 pm. Several states experienced intense heat conditions. The first phase of polling was held on April 19 in 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories.
The Election Commission (EC) said polling remained largely peaceful. The tentative figure at 7 pm of voter turnout of 60.96 per cent is likely to go upwards when reports from all polling stations are obtained, the EC said, adding voters reaching polling stations till the end of polling hour are allowed to cast their vote.
The National Democratic alliance (NDA) under Prime Minister Modi is seeking a stronger majority for a third consecutive term, while the constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc are hoping for a rebound after facing reverses in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
Election Commission data showed the highest voting percentage was recorded in Tripura which registered 78.53 per cent polling, followed by Manipur at 77.18 while the turnout was in Uttar Pradesh at 53.71 per cent and Maharashtra 53.84 per cent.
Polling was held in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 6 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and actor-turned-politician Arun Govil, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's brother DK Suresh (Cong), and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) are among the key candidates while BJP's Hema Malini, Om Birla and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat seeking a hat-trick of wins from their respective constituencies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the morning urged people to cast their votes in record numbers and said a high voter turnout strengthens democracy. Stressing on the importance of each vote, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi issued impassioned appeals asking people to step out and exercise their franchise in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election.
After the end of polling, Modi in a tweet said, "Phase Two has been too good!
Gratitude to the people across India who have voted today. The unparalleled support for NDA is going to disappoint the Opposition even more. Voters want NDA's good governance. Youth and women voters are powering the strong NDA support."
In Kerala, the turnout was 65.23 per cent. The election process, held amid tight security arrangements, was primarily incident free except for instances of bogus voting and breakdowns of electronic voting machines (EVMs) being reported in some booths of the state. Such incidents resulted in delaying the polling process in the affected booths.
One person each reportedly died at Palakkad, Alappuzha and Malappuram after casting their vote and a polling agent died after collapsing at a booth in Kozhikode.
Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency recorded a turnout of 78.48 per cent. Election officials said there were some complaints from a few booths but those were "promptly addressed".
A jawan of the Madhya Pradesh Special Armed Force deployed on poll duty allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle at a government school where he was stationed in Gariaband district under the Mahasamund seat in Chhattisgarh, where a voter turnout of 72.61 per cent was recorded.
A polling booth at Sivni village in Balod district (Kanker seat) was decorated like a wedding 'mandap', with a display of rituals of traditional weddings. Several brides and grooms, dressed in their wedding finery, cast their votes at several polling booths.
The EC said people from 46 villages in Bastar and Kanker seats cast their votes in a polling booth set up in their own village for the first time in a Lok Sabha election.
In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, there was a turnout of 55.77 per cent.
An estimated 70.68 per cent of the 77,26,668 voters exercised their franchise in the five parliamentary constituencies of Assam that went to polls in this phase.
In restive Manipur, where polling is being held under high presence of security personnel, the turnout was a high 77.18 per cent.
There were reports of intimidation by suspected militants, altercation between Congress workers and NPF supporters and damage of EVM at a polling station in the Tangkhul Naga-dominated hill district.
At KK Leishi Phanit polling station in Ukhrul, irate voters destroyed an EVM and other items after alleged disturbances by armed miscreants.
The overall voting percentage in Karnataka was 64.85.
A case was booked against BJP MP and Bangalore South Candidate Tejasvi Surya for allegedly posting a video on a social media platform and soliciting votes on the grounds of religion, the Election Commission said.
Another BJP leader CT Ravi was booked for allegedly promoting hatred and enmity between citizens through his social media post.
Various restaurants in Bangalore were offering free dosas, laddu, coffee and other food items at discounted rates to customers who cast their vote.
A private hospital assisted 41 inpatients cast their vote with the help of city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Green corridors were created for the ambulances across constituencies to ensure easy, hassle-free voting.
Some EVMs were destroyed at a polling station in Indiganatha village in Chamarajanagara district of Karnataka during a clash between two groups of people over whether to vote or not. Officials said an FIR is being filed the Election Commission will take a call after getting a detailed report.
A voter turnout of 53.84 per cent was recorded in eight constituencies in Maharashtra, while in Rajasthan, the turnout was 62.46 per cent. Incidents of confrontation between the supporters of the Congress candidate and an independent candidate were reported at a couple of places during polling in Barmer-Jaisalmer Lok Sabha constituency of Rajasthan.
Police said they were looking into the complaints besides some about fake voting from some places.
The by-election for the Bagidora assembly constituency in Banswara district was also held simultaneously on Friday and 73.25 per cent voting took place.
A voter turnout of 53.71 per cent was recorded in the eight parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh. Senior citizens dominated the early hours of voting in Noida in the Gautam Buddh Nagar constituency. Some residents' welfare associations made arrangements for electric vehicles to ferry voters to and from the polling booths.
In Bihar, the turnout was 54.91 per cent, 71.84 per cent in in West Bengal and 71.21 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Lok Sabha polls are the first major electoral battle in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh -- on August 5, 2019.
The Election Commission registered nearly 300 complaints in West Bengal, mostly related to EVM malfunctioning.
After Friday's phase, polling is over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura. In the first phase on April 19, polling was completed in all seats of Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1).
The third phase of elections for 94 seats across 12 states and Union territories will be held on May 7. Counting will be done on June 4.
