The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is investigating the Bhima Koregaon violence case in 2018, has filed draft charges against 15 accused and six fugitives in the NIA court. According to the NIA, “all the accused are members of a banned terrorist organization, whose main objective is to establish a ‘People’s Government’. A People’s Government through revolution, backed by the promise of protracted armed struggle and seizure of power from the state.”
“They have committed, abetted and assisted in the commission of Unlawful Activities with intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India with intent to strike terror in the people, any section of the people in India and the State of Maharashtra by using explosive substances like wires, nails, nitrate powder, and possessing and transporting sophisticated weapons like Chinese QLZ 87 Automatic Grenade Launcher and Russian GM-94 Grenade Launcher and M-4 with 4,00,000 rounds which by its very nature was to cause or likely to cause death or injuries to any person or persons or loss of or damage to or destruction of properties and was an attempt to do or cause the death of public functionary”.
The draft charges were presented before a special judge D.E. Kothalikar against Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Varvara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Nablakha, Hani Babu, late Padri Father StanSwami, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap. Six fugitives / wanted accused – Milind Teltumbde, Comrade Prakash, Comrade Manglu, Comrade Dipu, Kisan alias Prashant Basu and Mupalla Rao were also mentioned.
The NIA, referring to the accused, said “they engaged in war, tried to fight and incited war against the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra and thus committed a punishable offence under Section 121 of the Indian Penal Code.” The draft charges were filed earlier this month and the special NIA court will soon frame charges against all the accused.
“They are all members of a terrorist organization banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act as per the First Schedule. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its affiliates such as Anuradha Ghandy Memorial Committee, Kabir Kala Manch, Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee, Committee for Release of Political Prisoners, Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Co-ordination of Democratic Rights Organisation, Democratic Students Union, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan, Revolutionary Writers Association.”
The NIA claimed, Maoist organisations were recruiting students from New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed in the draft charges presented to the court in the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon Bhima case.
“The accused conspired to incite the people and create violence and to spread disaffection towards the government established by law and to commit illegal acts with the intention to further activities, to commit conspiracy or attempt to commit or advocate, abet, or incite the people to create public disorder with intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India. To shake and reduce the faith of common citizen in its elected democratic government by largescale violence destruction of lives and properties and thereby destabilise the system of government established by Law, to spread secessionist and rebellious thought and to create instability in India by insurgent activities,” the NIA has submitted to the court.
