Pune Sessions Court rejects bail plea of six accused in Bhima Koregaon case

Pune Sessions Court on Wednesday rejected bail plea of 6 accused namely Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Varvara Rao and Sudhir Dhavle in Bhima Koregaon violence case. Earlier, the Bombay High Court had rejected the bail peition of Sudha Bhardwaj,Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.

The first chargesheet, in this case, was filed by Pune Police in November 2018. In the chargesheet Pune Police had said that the speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017 led to violence near Bhima Koregaon war memorial on January 1, 2018. Pune Police had also claimed that the conclave was funded by Maoists.

In the first chargesheet, the police had named activists Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhavale who were arrested in June 2018. Absconding Maoist leaders Dipak alias Milind Teltumbade, Kishan Da alias Prashant Bose and Prakash alias Rituparn Goswami were also named as accused in the first charge sheet. Bharadwaj and others were arrested in September.

A  supplementary chargesheet in this case was filed by police on February 21, 2019 at a special UAPA court against five persons including human rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj and wanted Maoist leader Ganapathy.

The Elgar Parishad was held to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the 1818 battle of Koregaon Bhima, in which Dalit soldiers of the East India Company had fought against Brahmin Peshwa, Pune's then ruler, and defeated Peshwa's Army.