Maharashtra withdraws rioting cases against Sambhaji Bhide, others: RTI

The response to an RTI on Sunday revealed that the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has withdrawn six rioting cases against 85-year-old right wing activist Sambhaji Bhide. Notably, Sambhaji Bhide was the main suspect in Bhima-Koregaon violence case.

An RTI revealed that the Maharashtra government has cleared six rioting cases against Sambhaji Bhide and his hundreds of supporters. Apart from clearance of Bhide’s name, the Maharashtra government withdrew cases registered against BJP and Shiv Sena workers.

Information revealed by the RTI also noted that as many as eight circulars were issued by the Maharashtra government. In that statement, it demanded the withdrawal of cases against Sambhaji Bhide, political leaders belonging to BJP and Shiv Sena.

A 10-member committee formed by Pune Police earlier said that the Bhima-Koregaon violence — that took place on January 1 — was orchestrated by Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote. In the Bhima-Koregaon violence, one person — identified as Rahul Fatangale — was killed, while many others scored sustained injuries.

Taking a cognizance into this, a social activist had on January 2 this year filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the arrest of Sambhaji Bhide. He accused Bhide of irking the sentiments of the people that led to Bhima-Koregaon violence.

As per the latest scenario in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, the Pune Police had stated that five human rights activists including Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha were behind the violence of Bhima-Koregaon.

In its report, the Pune Police said that the speeches delivered by these activists at Elgar Parishad led to the violence. Now it’s been more than 20 days that the activists have been put on house arrest on orders by the Supreme Court.

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