Elgar Parishad case probe transfer to NIA has no link to change in government: Centre to Bombay HC

The Union government told the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency NIA to unearth a larger panIndia conspiracy and had nothing to do with the change in government in MaharashtraThe Union government recently submitted its affidavit in the HC in response to a petition filed by human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling and activist Sudhir Dhawale both arrested in the case challenging the January 2020 decision to transfer the probe in the case from Pune police to the NIAThe petition filed through advocate S B Talekar last year alleged the case was transferred by the Centre after the BJP lost power in Maharashtra and hence the decision was politically motivatedldquoIt is stoutly denied that the transfer of the investigation was actuated by the change in government Change in government has nothing to do with the transfer of investigation to NIArdquo an affidavit filed by the the Under Secretary of the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalisation division of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs saidIt further said the petition was iquestmalafide and vexatiousiquest and was an attempt by the accused to thwart investigation in the caseldquoIt was revealed that senior leaders of CPI Maoist which is a prescribed terrorist organization were in contact with organizers of the Elgar Parishad to spread the ideology of MaoismNaxalism and encourage unlawful activitiesrdquo the affidavit said adding that the offence became ldquoabnormally grave and spread not only to Pune district but to many regions of Indiardquo and hence a thorough investigation was necessary to unearth the large panIndia conspiracy hatched by the accusedThe petition came up for hearing before a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar on Tuesday which adjourned it to August 27The NIA in its affidavit filed earlier had also opposed the petition and said the case was transferred to the central agency as it had implications on national securityApart from Gadling and Dhawale activists Varavara Rao Gautam Navlakha Sudha Bharadwaj Anand Teltumbde Shoma Sen and Stan Swamy were arrested in the case Swamy an 84yearold Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist however died in a Mumbai hospital last month in the middle of his fight for bail on health groundsThe activists arrested for allegedly being active members of the CPI Maoist and propagating Maoist ideology and inciting violence have been charged under provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act as well as Indian Penal CodeThe Elgar Parishad case is related to inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31 2017 which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the KoregaonBhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city The police has claimed the conclave was organised by people with Maoist linksThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever