Pune: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh on Thursday demanded that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government appoint a retired Bombay High Court judge to look into the ‘managed’ cases of Elgaar Parishad activists arrested by the Pune police for their alleged Maoist links and their role in the -Bhima Koregaon clashes.
In a series of tweets late Wednesday night, the senior Congress leader lashed out against the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra alleged that the ongoing cases against eminent intellectuals and activists were “managed”
“The previous government had nearly framed me as an ‘urban Naxal’ in the Bhima-Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad case, which only proves that it was a managed case where good activists are still behind bars… Police officers had called me up (in connection with the case) …and when I said prosecute me, they never called me again. I am ready to tell this to any agency. Maharashtra Government should appoint a retired Bombay High Court judge to look into all these cases,” tweeted Singh.
He also wanted to know as to when would the incarcerated activists get justice.The senior Congress leaders demand for a probe into the actions of the Pune police in the controversial case were also echoed by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar.
Soon after the formation of the MVA government, Pawar had, last month, called the arrest of the nine academics, lawyers and activists like Surendra Gadling, Sudha Bharadwaj and Shoma Sen in the Bhima-Koregaon case as “wrong” and “vengeful” and demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be set up to probe the actions of the Pune Police.
Commenting on the WhatsApp Hacking-Pegasus Spyware case in which mobile phones of activists had been allegedly hacked by using snooping software, Singh said: “Is the Uddhav Thackeray government going to make details public as to who was behind the snooping and tapping in Maharashtra…Who were the officers of Maharashtra Government. who went to Israel to talk to NSO (an Israeli firm), the brain behind the (Pegasus) malware.”
During the police probe in 2018, Singh’s cell phone number had allegedly surfaced in one of the so-called Naxal communications seized by the Pune city police in its multi-city raid on June 6 that year on the homes of activists Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen and three others in relation to the ‘Elgaar Parishad’ and Bhima Koregaon clashes.
However, the Pune City police in November that year had categorically refuted reports suggesting that the senior Congressman could be questioned in connection over links with banned Maoist outfits and the Bhima-Koregaon clashes of January 1, 2018.
At the time, Shivaji Pawar, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) who is the investigating officer in the Bhima- Koregaon case, had clarified that there was no move on the part of the police to question the senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in the case.
Following the raids conducted by the Pune Police on the houses of some activists in June 2018, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra had immediately trained his guns on Singh, brandishing a letter allegedly seized by the city police during its raids.
The letter, dated September 25, 2017, allegedly written by one Comrade Prakash to a Comrade Surendra (supposedly a reference to advocate Gadling) talks about the need to “intensify nationwide protests using students as state forces will be soft against students which will gradually put the state at a disadvantage while acting against us”.
The letter further states “Congress leaders are very much willing to assist us in this process and have also agreed fund further agitations whenever such opportunities arrive. In this regard you can contact our friend at (a mobile number allegedly belonging to Singh).”
During a subsequent press conference in New Delhi, Sambit Patra had slammed the Congress for its “double-standards” on the Naxalism while stating that the “phone number in the alleged Maoist communication seized by the police belonged to none other than the Congress leader Digvijaya Singh. Singh has not clarified that it is not his number and thus, has accepted that it is his number.”
In a quick rejoinder, Singh dared the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government to arrest him if his Naxal links were proven. “First I was dubbed a ‘traitor’ and now am branded a ‘Naxalite’. If it is indeed so, then I must me arrested right here,” Singh told reporters in Satna in Madhya Pradesh.
