NIA moves court seeking transfer of Koregaon-Bhima case

Pune/Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has moved a Special Court seeking transfer of the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon-Bhima case to a Special NIA Court in Mumbai, on Thursday, officials said.

The NIA submitted its plea on Wednesday, five days after the Centre had transferred the investigations into the Elgar Parishad and the Koregaon-Bhima case from Pune Police to the NIA.

The Pune Special Court Additional Sessions Judge S.R. Navander has posted the NIA plea for hearing on February 3.

The development came two days after a three-member NIA team visited the Pune Police and sought the transfer of all records, papers and the case proceedings.

Declining its request, the Pune Police said they would hand over the case to the NIA only after getting written orders from Maharashtra Director General of Police.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has said it will take a final decision in a couple of days on a letter received from the Centre vis-a-vis the transfer of the case from the Pune Police to the NIA.

“We have received the letter today. It is with the Law & Judiciary Department. After the legal advice is received, it will be discussed with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray,” Home Minister Anil Deshmukh told mediapersons.

The state government has already discussed the matter with state Advocate-General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni this week.

While the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress have slammed the Centre’s move to transfer the case abruptly to the NIA without the consent of the state government as “unconstitutional”, Thackeray earlier this week held a meeting with the state top police brass to discuss the issue.

Demanding a probe into the manner in which the Pune Police had investigated the case, NCP leader Sharad Pawar has said the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is scared that its skeletons will come out in a fresh look at the case.

Senior minister Nawab Malik has labeled the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon-Bhima case as “totally fabricated” intended to malign intellectuals, Dalit and human rights activists by charging them with harbouring Maoistsand branding them as “urban Naxalites”.

The case pertains to the December 31, 2017, Elgar Parishad in Pune, and the caste riots next day on January 1, 2018 in Koregaon-Bhima which left one dead, followed by the police swoop on over a dozen activists across India in June and August 2018 on charges of anti-national activities, planning to create political disturbances and wage a war against India, conspiring to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and overthrowing the government.

IANS