Panaji: Human rights activist Anand Teltumbde, whose house was on Tuesday searched by the Maharashtra police as part of multi-city raids, said he was not even remotely connected to the allegations levelled against him.
The raids were conducted by the Pune police on the homes on those suspected of having Maoist links at several locations across the country.
Sources in the Goa police said a team from the Maharashtra police searched Teltumbde’s residence in Sankhalim village, 40km from here, on Tuesday, but left soon as he was not at home.
Asked to comment on the police action, Teltumbde, a professor of data analytics at the Goa Institute of Management (GIM), said he is not even remotely connected to the allegations levelled against him.
“What reaction shall I give to you? There is nothing.
We are not even remotely connected to the allegations that they have been levelling against us,” he told PTI over the phone from Mumbai.
“Whatever are my opinions, they are in public domain.
What reaction can I offer to you? I cannot even remotely think of such a kind of thing happening to me,” said Teltumbde.
Teltumbde said what the police were claiming about Maoist links of Left-wing activists is “nonsense”.
“We are not in such kind of business. We are respected people. They are doing nonsense. Most of them (arrested activists) are human right activists.
“It is natural that they will talk in favour of those people whose rights are violated, he added.
Asked about his future course of action, Teltumbde said, “What stand can I take? Today what is happening in the country is that, they are doing whatever they feel like.”
Earlier in the day, the Pune police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for “suspected Maoist links”.
The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the clashes between Dalits and right-wing activists at Koregaon- Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.
(PTI)