New Delhi | The Pune Police on Tuesday raided various venues of activists across the nation in connection with the Bhima Koregaon Violence.
The police conducted raids at houses of various activists and intellectuals in Delhi, Haryana, Mumbai, Thane, Ranchi and Hyderabad. The police arrested Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad, activist and poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad along with activists Arun Fereira and Venon Gonsalves. Father Stan Swamy’s home was also raided by the police in Ranchi. Claiming the role of activists in various terror plots, the police seized laptops, pen drives and documents from the raided houses.
Earlier in June, the police arrested five people in connection with the Elgar Parishad event on December 31 last year to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle. The police had also claimed that these people have a close aide with the Maoists. The police on the basis of the FIR filed in the Visrambaug Police Station alleged that the arrested ones made “provocative” speeches at the Elgar Parishad event, triggering violence at Koregaon Bhima village in the district. In June this year, the police arrested Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale from his home in Mumbai, lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were arrested from Nagpur while Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi.
On 1st January 2017, members belonging to the Dalit community had gathered at Bhima Koregaon in Pune to celebrate the 200th anniversary of their victory over the Peshwas. Some ‘Right-wing’ groups had reportedly opposed the Dalit celebrations which is said to have resulted in clashes between ‘right-wing’ groups and Dalits which later turned violent with stone throwing. Several people were injured while a 28-year-old person named Rahul Fatangale died in the clash.
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