NIA Wants Elgar Parishad Case to Shift to Special Mumbai Court From Pune

Pune: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed an application before a special court in Pune hearing the Elgar Parishad case, seeking transfer of the case to the special NIA court in Mumbai.

The Centre had last week transferred the probe into the Elgar Parishad case from Pune Police to the NIA.

The NIA submitted the application before the court on Wednesday.

One of the defence lawyers in the case said that the central agency filed the criminal miscellaneous application before Additional Sessions Judge (special) S R Navandar, seeking transfer of all the records and the case proceedings to the special NIA court in Mumbai.

The court has kept the matter for hearing on next Monday.

The defence lawyer also said that the central probe agency's application indicated that a fresh FIR has been filed by the NIA on January 27.

Earlier this week, a team of NIA officials, comprising a Superintendentof Police-rank officer, had met the Pune Police officials and informed them that the investigation into the Elgar Parishad case has been handed over to the agency.

However, the city police had told them that the case-related documents will be handed over to the NIA only after the orders from the Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) office to that effect.

The Pune police have claimed that the speeches delivered at theElgar Parishad conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune city on December 31, 2017, led to the violence at Koregaon Bhima in the district the next day. They have also claimed that theconclave was organised by the people having Maoist links.

During the probe into the violence, police had arrested human rights activists Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao for alleged Maoist links.

They were booked under the relevant sections of the IPCand also the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The 'Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi' government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress has slammed the Centre for handing over the probe to the NIA.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had condemned the Centre's decision to transfer the case to the NIA without the consent of the state government, and termed the move as "unconstitutional".

The opposition BJP had, however, welcomed the move.