Activists Arrests: Bombay High Court pulls up Maharashtra Police for holding press conference

The Bombay High Court on Monday pulled up the Maharashtra Police for holding a press conference in which they elaborated the evidence against the arrested activists associated with the Bhima Koregaon case. The court questioned the basis of police holding the conference when the matter is sub-judice.

Hearing a petition the court observed that this matter was not dealt with in a serious manner. The petitioner in his plea has argued that while the police want an in camera hearing, but on the other hand are reading out the evidence to the press. Also, the petitioner wanted the court to hand over the matter to the National Investigation Agency, as they do not have faith in the Maharashtra Police probing method.

Earlier, the Maharashtra Police had called a press briefing last week in which they read out the activists’ letters in public. The Additional Director General (Law and Order) of Maharashtra Police, P B Singh, on Friday had said that they have ample proof amount of documents — which runs in thousand pages — to prove their case. He also stated that they also have the information about how money and equipment related to the planning of “some big action” was about to reach the activists via Maoists.

Singh had stated, “We have thousands of letters which show how these people were involved in the underground movement, how students from Jawaharlal Nehru University were being mobilised to overthrow the elected government. All these letters just make the Maoists links clearer.”

Stating about the letter exchanged between the activists and the Maoists — planning the end of Modi-raj as it was done during Rajiv Gandhi’s time —  he spoke about the requirements of funding and equipments for the same. Showing the rocket launcher pamphlet, found in one of the seized disks, Singh said, “A letter written from Delhi-based activist Rona Wilson to Maoist leader Prakash on July 30, 2017, spoke of requirement of Rs. 8 crore for grenade launchers with four lakh round.”

Soon after the arrests of five activists — Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves — the Supreme Court observed the matter on Wednesday and ordered house arrest till September 6. The bench also ordered Maharashtra Police to present the evidence till September 5.

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