“I have asked for an entire report on the current status of the Bhima Koregaon violence; its investigation and aftermath,” Deshmukh said on Wednesday
Mumbai: Senior NCP leader and Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh have said he had demanded an entire report on the Bhima Koregaon case including the current status.
Lashing out at the past BJP government, the new home minister said that tagging people “urban Naxals” for holding different opinions is a wrong practice.
In particular, NCP chief Sharad Pawar in December last year demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be set up under a retired judge to inquire about the action taken by Pune police in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case. “I have asked for an entire report on the current status of the Bhima Koregaon violence; its investigation and aftermath,” Deshmukh said on Wednesday.
While investigating the alleged links between the Elgaar Parishad conclave of December 31, 2017, the term “Urban Naxal” was used by Pune police and the caste clashes around Bhima Koregaon in Pune district the next day.
Meanwhile, some extreme rightist activists were arrested in the case by the Pune city police, their rural equivalent had booked Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide for allegedly instigating violence.
While Milind Ekbote was granted bail by the top court and Smabhaji Bhide was never arrested. “Whoever disagreed with their opinions, were termed as urban Naxals and this is wrong. The earlier government had set up an example in this regard,” Deshmukh said without taking the name of the BJP.
Responding to a question on a woman holding a “Free Kashmir” poster at a protest held at the Gateway of India in Mumbai recently, Deshmukh said police are checking her antecedents. The poster had raised many eyebrows. “I have also demanded a report on the FIR registered against agitators who participated in the Gateway of India’s demonstration,” he added. The protest was called off on Monday.
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