Mumbai
Kunal Chonkar
Not even a month in office, the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) pressure is being mounted to reset the probe into the controversial Bhima-Koregaon case and subsequent riots all over Maharashtra in 2018.
But what has raised eyebrows is that even after the Pune police claiming that it had unearthed proofs of plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there have been no moves to order a probe by the country’s premier investigation agency the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Already the MVA has begun taking decisions that has raised quite a few eyebrows. After the Metro 3 car shed project and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train project that has raised the hackles of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led opposition. Now, sources while speaking on conditions of anonymity disclosed that moves are afoot in the MVA to bail out those activists arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon incident of January 1, 2018 and the statewide riots that followed later.
Lashing out at the Pune Polices investigation into the Bhima-Koregaon case, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on December 21, argued in favor of appointing a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case afresh.
Calling the previous probe as ‘wrong and vengeful’, Pawar said that all facts related to the incident and case need to be verified. The NCP supremo is set to meet Thackeray, this week, over the issue. Even before the NCP chief can meet the Chief Minister, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar in a game of one-upmanship met Thackeray at his Matoshree residence in Bandra East on Tuesday.
PM Assassination plot yet No NIA probe?
Despite senior officials from the investigation team of the Pune Police flashing 13 letters, which revealed vital information regarding Naxal operations of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). One of the letters, had outlined an intricate Maoist conspiracy to destabilise India, dislodge the Bharatiya Janata Party government and even assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are yet to be placed in the apex court.
Add to this, no fresh FIR has been filed regarding the PM assassination plot, as the Supreme Court of India pointed out that no effort was made by the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) seeking to submit a plea for such an investigation by the NIA concerning the five individuals (petitioners). On the contrary, the ASG argued that there was no basis to link the five arrested accused to any such alleged plot against the PM. Neither did the counter affidavit make any averment to that effect.
“The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the biggest investigating agency of our country. However, the NIA was not to be seen investigating a case of an assassination attempt against the PM. There are around a dozen cases that the NIA is currently probing related to reported assassination plots of the PM. I don’t think they would let this one with Pune Police,” marked a retired IPS officer.
PM Assassination Letter was written in Judicial Custody?
The Pune police in their investigation trail were digging up emails of suspected members of the Elgar Parishad. One of the emails seen by the police allegedly contained information on the plot to kill PM Modi. The email was written by one who identified himself as ‘R’ and addressed to certain ‘Comrade Prakash’. It talks about the ‘Rajiv Gandhi-type incident’ and suggests that PM Modi should be targeted during one of his ‘roadshows’.
Also Read: Activists’ arrest in Elgar Parishad case wrong: Sharad Pawar
A final trial court judgment convicted New Delhi University professor GN Saibaba and returned a judicial finding that ‘Comrade Prakash’ was none other than Saibaba, who was admittedly always under judicial custody since 7 March 2017, months before the alleged letters were written. The Pune Police are yet to respond to how a convict under custody could write or receive letters plotting to assassinate the PM.
On 1 January 2018, violence broke out in the Bhima-Koregaon village near Pune, between Dalits and Marathas. The violence was witnessed a day after a conclave organized by the Elgar Parishad at Shanivarwada in Pune. A bandh called by Dalit outfits the following day also saw incidents of vandalism and death of 28-year-old Rahul Fatangale.
In June and August 2018, the Pune Police arrested activists Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao in connection with the violence. They were also accused of having ties with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Nearly two years after the incident and investigations, several unanswered questions have raised more than just a doubt over the probe, and procedures followed by the police and the state government that oversaw it all.
Digital Investigations
Tracking the digital footprints of the alleged conspiracy hatched by the reported ‘urban Naxals’, the Pune Police in the court had claimed to have investigated social media accounts of the nine arrested individuals. The investigation team had also claimed to have found several social media accounts promoting Naxalism and anti-state theories.
However, no details of these claimed social media accounts or provocative content have been tabled by the police in the court.
Secondly, the Pune Police are yet to officially state whether they have approached the respective social networking sites to block these accounts or handles. “We have not received such a letter from the Pune Police. Thus, no request has been sent so far to block any social media accounts or handles regarding this case,” said a desk officer of state Home Ministry.
(Writer is expert in international affairs)
