Bombay HC rejects Anand Teltumbde’s plea of scraping the FIR against him associating to Bhima Koregaon Violence
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Mumbai, December 22: “We are of the opinion that this is not a case where there is no incriminating material against the Petitioner. The offence is serious. The conspiracy is deep rooted and has extremely serious repercussions. The Investigating Agency must be allowed to have sufficient opportunity to collect evidence. The investigation is in progress.”, said the Bombay High Court on Friday dismissing Professor Anand Teltumbde plea to revert the FIR registered against him in relation to Bhima¬-Koregaon incident.
“The investigation is still in progress. Considering the nature and magnitude of the conspiracy, the Investigating Agency is required to be given sufficient opportunity to unearth the evidence against the accused. We are satisfied that at this stage there is sufficient material against the Petitioner with the Investigating Agency and the allegations against him are not baseless.”, the court added further in it’s judgement. “The scope of investigation was expanded, as new material started surfacing. The investigation revealed deep rooted conspiracy to create communal disharmony.”
In his petition, the professor denied the allegations that he is associated with Communist Party of India (Maoist) or having any nexus with the Bhima-Koregaon incident. It was contended that he is targeted by the Police Officer because of his writing and his prominence.
“Resisting his plea, the state produced several letters which mentions his name as Com. Anand., and contended that he was not only an active member of the banned organisation, but also took active part in executing the sinister design of destabilizing the society”, reported the officials.
Refusing to interfere with the investigation, the bench comprising Justice B P Dharmadhikari and Justice Sarang V Kotwal observed, “It is also not possible to record a finding that implicating the Petitioner as one of accused is a malafide exercise of powers on the part of Investigating Agency.”
“According to the Investigating Officer, the accused persons were not only the active members of CPI(M) but they took active part in executing the sinister design of destabilizing the society. It is thus quite clear that the scope of investigation is considerably widened and is not restricted to the BhimaKoregaon incident dated 01/01/2018”, added the judgement.
Referring to these documents, the bench said that they are satisfied that the Investigating Agency has some material to establish the identity of the professor as Anand or Com. Anand. It also said that the allegations and material against him travel beyond the mere allegations of being a member of banned organization.