A file photo of Maharashtra's home minister Anil Deshmukh
Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday said that he has written to the Advocate General to seek his opinion whether the state government could run a parallel probe into the Bhima-Koregaon violence-Elgar Parishad case, after the investigation into the case was transferred to the National Investigative Agency (NIA) earlier this week by a Pune-based court.
"If he (Advocate General) gives a legal opinion that investigation can continue simultaneously, then the Maharashtra government will form an SIT (Special Investigation Team) to continue the investigation," Deshmukh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Deshmukh disclosed that he had written to the Advocate General to seek his suggestion on the matter.
A Pune-based sessions' judge court on Friday allowed the transfer of the Bhima Koregaon violence-Elgar Parishad case to a special court in Mumbai under the jurisdiction of the National Investigative Agency (NIA).
All the accused in the case have been asked to be produced before the Special NIA Court in Mumbai on Feb 28, as per news reports.
The NIA had moved a Special Court seeking transfer of the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon-Bhima case to a Special NIA Court in Mumbai on Jan 30 this year. The Pune Police had said at the time that they would hand over the case to the NIA only after getting written orders from Maharashtra Director General of Police.
The Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress had slammed the Centre's move to transfer the case abruptly to the NIA without the consent of the state government as "unconstitutional.
Demanding a probe into the manner in which the Pune Police had investigated the case, NCP leader Sharad Pawar had 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 labelled 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.
(with IANS inputs)
