Pune cops conduct raid at DU Professor's house in Elgaar Parishad case

A team of the Pune city Police on Tuesday conducted a search at the residence of Delhi University Professor and activist Dr Hany Babu MT in Noida in connection to the Elgaar Parishad case which is claimed to trigger the violence of Koregoan BhimaDr Babu who teaches English in the University of Delhi is a noted activist being the coordinator of the lsquoAlliance of Social Justicersquo and a member of the lsquoJoint Action Front for Democratic EducationrsquoThe search was conducted as per the FIR registered at Vishrambaug police station under sections 153 a Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion race etc 505 1 b among others in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case held at Punes Shaniwarwada Fort on December 31 2017 as part of the bicentenary celebrations of the BhimaKoregaon battleOn Tuesday at around 6 am the Pune police team comprising of Assistant Commissioner of Police Swargate division Shivaji Pawar the investigating officer in the case along with Deputy Commissioner of Police crime Bachchan Singh and along with the Uttar Pradesh police and sector 49 police station officers raided the houseACP Pawar confirmed the raid and told MidDay Based on vital information gathered from the past seized articles and clues we have conducted this raid We have not made any arrests and we have seized some electronic devices and sensitive material from the house We have video recordings of the whole entire proceedings that were carried out We also explained to him the reasons for the raid in English A copy of seizure panchnama was also given with his due acknowledgementDr Babursquos wife Jenny Rowena who is a teacher claimed that the police searched their house for nearly six hours without any warrant They have taken my husbands laptop mobile phone books and pen drives along with other articles she saidA Facebook post by Rowena read ldquoToday the Pune police entered our house at 630 in the morning They said that Hany Babu my husband who teaches at Delhi University English Department is involved in the Bhima Koregaon case and for this they could search the house without a search warrant They searched the house for up to six hours took three books and his laptop phone hard disks and pen drives They just left now SicrdquoHe was a prominent member of the Committee for the Defence and Release of Dr GN Saibaba which had condemned the rejection of granting permanent bail to the disabled and incarcerated Delhi University academic accused of having Maoist linksAdvocate Surendra Gadling who was the defence counsel for Prof Saibaba was arrested by the Pune police along with four others including Dalit publisher Sudhir Dhawale Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen and activists Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson for their alleged links with the outlawed Communist Party of India Maoist and their roles in the Elgaar Parishad and the BhimaKoregaon clashes on June 6 last yearIn Pune in 2018 a First Information Report FIR was filed based on a complaint by Tushar Damgude The KoregaonBhima clashes of January 1 last year was initially lodged against six participants including Dhawale Those named in the FIR were members of the Kabir Kala Manch ndash a radical Dalit cultural troupeOn August 28 2018 the Pune City police had carried out a second countrywide crackdown by searching residences of seven other academics and activistsThe houses of activists Sudha Bharadwaj P Varavara Rao Vernon Gonsalves Arun Ferreira Gautam Navlakha Anand Teltumbde and Father Stan Swamy as part of the second crackdown by the Pune police on alleged Urban Maoist as part of their investigation into the BhimaKoregaon clashesSo far nine of the twelve activists whose residences were searched have been arrested and are lodged in Punersquos Yerwada central prisonIn June this year the Pune city police had also raided the octogenarian Fr Swamyrsquos house in Ranchirsquos Namkum area for the second time seizing electronic devices and some literatureCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates