Varavara Rao

Security Researchers Claim Link Between Pune Police And Hacking Campaign Against Bhima Koregaon Accused

The recovery email id and phone number on accounts of Wilson, Rao and Babu were allegedly linked to a Pune police officer.

New Delhi: Security researchers in the United States have claimed that they unearthed new evidence that links the Pune police to the hacking of e-mail accounts of activists Rona Wilson and Varavara Rao and Delhi University professor Hany Babu. This is the first time that the state’s involvement has been directly established in the case.

The three individuals are among the 16 arrested accused in the Elgar-Parishad case. Of them, 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, died in July last year. Over the last few years, multiple digital forensic investigators have questioned the nature of the evidence collected by Indian law enforcement from the electronic devices of the accused, with one firm noting that hackers had planted incriminating evidence on at least two activists that had been arrested.

Now, security researchers have pointed towards links between the hacking attempts on three of the accused and the Pune police department.

“There’s a provable connection between the individuals who arrested these folks and the individuals who planted the evidence,” Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, a security researcher at SentinelOne told Wired magazine.

“This is beyond ethically compromised. It is beyond callous. So we’re trying to put as much data forward as we can in the hopes of helping these victims.”

SentinelOne’s new findings specifically link the Pune police to a long-running hacking campaign that they call ‘Modified Elephant’. After pro bono studying over 100 phishing emails received by Wilson (which were sourced through his defence lawyers), SentinelOne has found that the earliest attack on him can be traced back to as early as 2012. The report says that the attack began in 2012 but intensified only in 2014 and continued aggressively until at least 2016.

SentinelOne’s new revelations, published today in Wired magazine, come from working with an unnamed email service provider that provided them with crucial data that allowed them to allege a link to the Indian law enforcement agency.

In particular, the security research organisation points out that three of the victim email accounts (Wilson, Babu and Rao) compromised by hackers in 2018 and 2019 had a recovery email address and phone number added as a backup mechanism (to allow the hacker to easily regain control of the accounts if their passwords were changed).

Who did this recovery email ID and phone number belong to? According to the publication, the email address “included the full name of a police official in Pune who was closely involved in the Bhima Koregaon 16 case”.

The publication and researchers at other institutions such as Internet watchdog Citizen Lab collaborated further to confirm that the recovery email ID and recovery phone number belonged to a Pune police official.

“Security researcher Zeshan Aziz found the recovery email address and phone number tied to the Pune police official’s name in the leaked database of TrueCaller, a caller ID and call-blocking app, and found the phone number linked to his name in the leaked database of iimjobs.com, an Indian job recruitment website….,” the report notes

“Scott-Railton [of Citizen Lab] further found that the WhatsApp profile photo for the recovery phone number added to the hacked accounts displays a selfie photo of the police official—a man who appears to be the same officer at police press conferences and even in one news photograph taken at the arrest of Varvara Rao.”

Also Read: Incriminating Letters Were ‘Planted’ on Rona Wilson’s Laptop: US Digital Forensics Firm

In the case of Rona Wilson, according to the security analyst at the email service provider who worked with SentinelOne, his email account received a phishing email in April 2018 and then appeared to be compromised by the hackers – at the same time, the email and phone number linked to the Pune city police were added as recovery contacts.

It is important to note, the media report notes, that the recovery contact details could have been only added through a verification process (either a confirmation link or an SMS). This suggests that the police, therefore, did in fact control that email address and phone number. targeted but he was tired of watching such things happen.

“We generally don’t tell people who targeted them, but I’m kind of tired of watching shit burn,” the security analyst at the email provider told Wired of their decision to reveal the identifying evidence from the hacked accounts. “These guys are not going after terrorists. They’re going after human rights defenders and journalists. And it’s not right.”

Penguin Random House Drops ‘Hindutva’, Other Words From Varavara Rao’s Latest Book: Report

The said words, from the book which is yet to be released, have been removed by the publishers’ legal team purportedly to avoid attracting charges such as sedition or defamation.

Penguin Random House India’s legal team has allegedly removed words like ‘Hindutva’, ‘Sangh Parivar’ and ‘saffronisation’ from Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s latest book Varavara Rao: A Revolutionary Poet, the Quint has reported.

The book, which is yet to be released, will become the first English-translated collection of poems by the 81-year-old Rao, who was arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. He is at present out on medical bail.

Rao’s latest book is an anthology of his poems, which is representative of his six-decade-long literary career.

Rao has been associated with various people’s movements since the 1960s and was arrested in August 2018 for his alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case.

Also read: Bhima Koregaon: Amid Demands For Fresh Probe, A Hard Look at the Case’s Discrepancies

In 2014, Penguin had withdrawn their own book The Hindus by Wendy Doniger following complaints filed by groups claiming that the book presented a “distorted” view of Hinduism.

Earlier this year, on Ambedkar Jayanti (April 14), Penguin Random House had released a book The Dalit Truth, which it said “analyses the current Dalit status, economically, socially, and politically, the relevance of Ambedkar, and the new path of empowerment to be forged.”

The book, which featured expert views from authors such as Sukhdeo Thorat, Badri Narayan and Bhanwar Meghwanshi; activist and Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani; and academic Suraj Yengde, was stated to be “a symphony of Dalit voices as they call out to the future.”

The publisher also claimed that “the multitude of Dalit truths and their battles against the lies perpetrated by the caste system are reflected in the pages of this book, pointing towards a future filled with promise and prospects for coming generations.”

However, less than a month after the release of The Dalit Truth, Rao’s latest collection of poems has allegedly undergone censorship at the hands of Penguin Random House’s legal team, according to the Quint report.

The report says that the words in question have been removed from the latest edit of Rao’s book and the news outlet speculated that the move has been initiated to avoid getting charged by the government under repressive legislations like sedition or defamation.

Rao has not offered a response because, as someone close to him has said, one of his bail conditions was that he would not talk to the media.

The Wire reached out to senior officials at Penguin Random House India for a comment. This article will be updated as and when they respond.

Incidentally, Varavara Rao: A Revolutionary Poet was subjected to delays last year as well and then, too, the delays were chalked up to an unfavourable legal opinion.

Outlook magazine had reported in November last year that after the delays evoked a strong response against the publishing house on social media, Rao’s nephew, N. Venugopal, had said that he awaits a “favourable, second legal opinion.”

The contract for the book was signed in 2020 and the publisher had then stated that it would be released in mid-2021. However, the contract had provided for a 24-month window for publication.

Venugopal had stated that publishers had time till October 2022 to bring out the book, failing which the “editors can either sue them for breach of contract, or we can make a public issue that they have stopped the publishing.”

Three out of 65 poems were dropped in 2021

On why three of Rao’s poems of the 65 selected were dropped from the collection, Venugopal had cited “legal problems” since they were written while Rao was facing trial.

“There were some legal problems because he is under a case, so the poems that he wrote during the case are sub-judice. That’s why we dropped the three poems. The publishers said because he is in a case, this may lead to trouble,” the Outlook report had quoted Venugopal as saying.

The report also noted that Penguin Random House had published a translated collection of Rao’s letters from prison, titled Captive Imagination, which led Venugopal to say, “Penguin has published his letters from prison in 2010, so if writing from the prison is not a problem, these poems (in the new book) are only re-publications of what appeared in Telugu for the last 60 years.”

Elgar Parishad Case: Bombay HC Says Won’t Review Refusal of Default Bail to 3 Activists

Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves’ petition said the high court’s previous order was based on a “factual error”.

New Delhi: The Bombay high court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Varavara Rao and two other activists, arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, seeking a review of an earlier order of the high court which refused them default bail.

The high court said it finds it difficult to hold there was any factual error in its earlier judgement and requires a review.

“”No case for exercise of review jurisdiction is made out. A point which was not urged, is impermissible to be reviewed,” a division bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar said.

The high court rejected the petition filed by the three accused – Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves – challenging a previous order of the high court that refused to grant them default bail in the case.

Rao is currently out on medical bail, while the other two petitioners are in jail.

The three accused had challenged a December 1, 2021 order passed by the bench led by Justice Shinde that granted default bail to lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, a co-accused in the case, but denied default bail to eight other accused persons, including the three petitioners.

At that time, the high court had said the accused persons, other than Bharadwaj, had not filed their pleas seeking default bail before the lower court within the time stipulated by law.

In their pleas, filed through advocates Sudeep Pasbola and R. Satyanarayanan, the accused said the high court’s order was based on a “factual error,” as it failed to note that the lower court had rejected the default bail pleas filed by Bharadwaj, the three petitioners, and two other co-accused persons through a common order.

“If such power of correcting its own record is denied to the High Court, when it notices the apparent errors its consequence is that the superior status of the High Court will dwindle down. Therefore, it is only proper to think that the plenary powers of the High Court would include the power of review relating to errors apparent on the face of the record,” the petition said.

Hence, if the high court, in granting bail to Bharadwaj, set aside the lower court order of November 6, 2019, the others too were entitled to relief.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had opposed the plea on the ground that the accused were seeking the same prayer of default bail under the guise of review, and that it was an abuse of the process of law and sets a wrong precedent.

The case, now being handled by the NIA, pertains to the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the Pune police alleged was funded by Maoists.

The Elgar Parishad case, which was earlier being investigated by the Pune police and was later handed over to the NIA, has been criticised by rights activists internationally as a ‘witch-hunt’ against those who work with marginalised communities and dissent against the government in power. Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, who spent his life working for tribal rights, passed away in custody after being arrested in the case. He was denied medical bail despite several serious conditions, including advanced Parkinson’s disease.

Only one other accused in the case, lawyer and rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj, is currently out on bail. Thirteen others continue to be lodged in Maharashtra prisons.

(With PTI inputs)

Bombay HC Rejects Varavara Rao’s Permanent Bail Plea, Extends Temporary Bail by 3 Months

The bench dismissed Rao’s application seeking that he be permitted to stay in Hyderabad instead of Mumbai, while out on bail.

New Delhi: The Bombay high court on Wednesday rejected poet-activist Varavara Rao’s plea seeking permanent medical bail in the Elgar Parishad case.

A bench of Justices S.B. Shukre and G.A. Sanap, however, extended the time for the 83-year-old activist to surrender before the Taloja prison authorities by three months, to enable him to undergo a cataract surgery.

The bench dismissed Rao’s application seeking that he be permitted to stay in Hyderabad instead of Mumbai, while out on bail.

The high court also said it had found substance in several claims made by Rao’s counsel Anand Grover on the lack of medical facilities in the Taloja prison, located in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, and poor hygiene conditions there.

The court, therefore, directed Maharashtra Inspector General of prisons to submit a “candid” report on the state of such facilities at the “Taloja prison in particular,” and also in all prisons across the state.

The high court directed the IG to submit the report to the court by April 30 this year. “The IG prisons must ensure that henceforth, there remain no grounds for inmates to raise grievances on inadequate health facilities in prisons across the state,” the court said.

It also directed the special National Investigation Agency court to expedite the trial in the Elgar Parishad case, and to conduct the trial proceedings on a day-to-day basis.

Rao, who has been out of prison on temporary medical bail since February last year, had filed three pleas.

He had sought that his medical bail be extended by another six months, an application seeking modification of his temporary medical bail conditions (he sought that while out on bail, he be permitted to stay in his home town Hyderabad in Telangana), and a plea that he be granted permanent bail on health grounds till the conclusion of the case trial.

Also read: 21 European MPs Write to Modi Expressing Concern at Treatment of Rights Activists

His counsel had told the high court that Rao, who has early signs of Parkinson’s disease, was living in Mumbai’s Bandra area in a conference facility rented out to him by some Christian missionaries.

The NIA’s counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, had opposed all of Rao’s prayers and urged the high court to send him back to prison.

Singh had argued that hundreds of other inmates, who were senior citizens and suffered from health ailments, continued to remain in prison and were provided with medical care in prison hospital.

Only one other accused in the case, lawyer and rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj, is currently out on bail. Thirteen others continue to be lodged in Maharashtra prisons.

Bombay HC Asks if Prison Conditions Have Improved for Varavara Rao to Be Sent Back

Rao was granted temporary medical bail by the high court in February 2021 for a period of six months. He later filed a plea seeking permanent bail on the grounds of ill-health.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Tuesday extended the bail granted on health grounds to poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case, till March 8.

It also sought to know if the conditions at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai had improved.

A division bench of Justices S.B. Shukre and G.A. Sanap said if the conditions had not improved then the accused (Rao) would be exposed to more diseases if he was sent back there.

Rao was granted temporary medical bail by the high court in February 2021 for a period of six months.

The octogenarian later filed an application seeking extension of the bail, and subsequently another plea seeking permanent bail on the grounds of ill-health.

The high court has since September 2021 extended his time to surrender several times.

Senior advocate Anand Grover, representing Rao, submitted that the attitude of the prosecution must change and their endeavour cannot be to keep an accused in the prison at the cost of his health pending trial.

Rao’s co-accused Father Stan Swamy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, died in hospital while his medical bail plea was pending, the lawyer pointed out.

“He (Swamy) would not have died had he not been put in prison. You (prosecution) put someone in a position that there is no going back. The attitude of the prosecution has to be that they should try their best to get the prisoner for trial. It should not be that whatever happens to him in prison is fine,” he argued.

Also read: How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

Justice Shukre then asked why Rao was granted bail only for six months, and whether the high court order was challenged by the parties.

“Because he is 82 years old, he may be drug resistant. In six months will the Taloja prison improve? He will be exposed to more diseases,” the judge remarked.

A bench led by Justice S.S. Shinde, on February 22, 2021, while granting temporary relief to Rao, had observed that the hospital attached to the Taloja Central Prison and the jail ward of JJ Hospital were ill-equipped and inadequate to take care of Rao’s health, and sending him back to the prison would certainly endanger his life and would run the risk of deterioration of his health to the point of no return .

With the kind of observations in the high court order, prima facie we do not see any scope of review (unless proved otherwise by prosecution). And this order has attained finality, Justice Shukre remarked.

The court will continue to hear the case on March 8.

(PTI)

Elgar Parishad: Bombay HC Grants NIA, Maha Govt 2 Weeks to Respond to Activists’ Bail Review Plea

A bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N. J. Jamadar directed the authorities to file their replies to the plea filed by activists Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government two weeks’ time to respond to a review petition filed by three activists accused in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, challenging the court’s previous order denying them default bail.

A bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N. J. Jamadar directed the authorities to file their replies to the plea filed by activists Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves.

The three undertrial accused have challenged a December 1, 2021 order passed by the bench that granted default bail to lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, a co-accused in the case, but denied default bail to several other accused.

Also read: Grant Bail to Activists Arrested in Elgar Parishad Case, MPs Say In Letter to Modi

At the time, the high court had said that the accused, other than Bharadwaj, had not filed their pleas seeking default bail before the lower court within the time stipulated by law.

In their pleas filed through advocates Sudeep Pasbola and R. Satyanarayanan, the accused have, however, stated that the high court’s order was based on a “factual error”, as it failed to note that the lower court had rejected the default bail pleas filed by Bharadwaj, the three petitioners and two other co-accused through a common order.

“Hence, if the high court, in granting bail to Bharadwaj, set aside the lower court’s order of November 6, 2019, the others too were entitled to relief,” the petitioners claimed.

The bench on Wednesday asked the NIA to file a reply to the review petition filed by the three activists in two weeks and also asked the state government to respond to it, if it wishes to, in the same period.

The high court will hear the matter further on February 24.

(PTI)

Elgar Parishad Case: Bombay HC Extends Varavara Rao’s Medical Bail Till February 5

A bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N.R. Borkar dismissed the National Investigating Agency’s request for extending the date of surrender only by a week.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Friday extended the date of surrender for poet Varavara Rao till February 5. Varavara Rao is an accused in the Elgar Parishad case who is currently on medical bail.

A bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N.R. Borkar dismissed the National Investigating Agency’s (NIA’s) request for extending the date of surrender only by a week.

The bench said in view of the rising cases of coronavirus across the state, it would not be wise to send the 83-year-old poet-activist back to prison.

Rao, who was lodged in the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai as an undertrial, was granted temporary medical bail for six months in February 2021 by another bench of the HC that was led by Justice Shinde.

He was admitted to the private Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai at the time for treatment of multiple ailments.

Also read: Varavara Rao Medically Stable as per Hospital Report, Must Surrender: NIA Tells HC

His date of surrender was scheduled for September 5, 2021, but Rao filed a new application through advocate R Sathyanarayanan and senior counsel Anand Grover seeking an extension of medical bail.

The date of Rao’s surrender has been extended since then by the HC on several accounts, including further time sought by the NIA, which is investigating the case, for filing replies to the new application and getting the octogenarian medically examined again, among others.

The NIA, however, has been opposing extension of Rao’s medical bail, saying his treatment at Nanavati Hospital is now complete and as per doctors there, he does not need continued medical care at the private hospital currently.

On Friday, NIA counsel Sandesh Patil told the HC that Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh had not been briefed in the matter and sought a week’s time to complete the process.

He urged the HC to grant the next date of hearing in a week’s time.

The bench, however, said there was no point posting the matter for hearing next week and extending Rao’s date of surrender only till then, considering the coronavirus pandemic.

“Mr Patil, there is no point in keeping (the plea for hearing) next week. Experts say third wave (of coronavirus) may last for 50 to 60 days. This time, the police, health workers are testing positive very rapidly. The situation wasn’t as bad the last time. So in such a situation, is it proper to send him (Rao) back to jail?” the judges asked.

“Of course, we are aware of the seriousness of allegations (against Rao), and the point of law involved. We will hear you (all parties) on the next date on merits,” the bench said.

Grover then told the HC that considering Rao’s health condition, his old age and chronic ailments, the Telegu poet had also filed a fresh application before the HC seeking “permanent bail on health grounds.” “We have also challenged some of the findings and medical report conclusions of Nanavati Hospital,” Grover told the HC.

He referred to some reports, including a conclusion submitted in the HC by Nanavati Hospital doctors last month stating that Rao’s vital parameters were stable and he did not need further medical care.

The NIA had cited this particular report to argue earlier that Rao be sent back to prison while the high court continued to hear on merits his applications for further medical bail.

On Friday, the bench of Justices Shinde and Borkar said it will consider all contentions raised, including those in the new applications filed by Rao, on February 4, the next date of hearing.

It, accordingly, extended the date of surrender for Rao till February 5.

The bench also advised lawyers to stay safe and follow COVID-19 safety protocols.

“This is high time to take full care. The spread is very rapid this time. We are seriously concerned about all stakeholders in the judicial system…advocates, staff, clerks, their families. Here (in HC) also some of our colleagues have tested positive,” the bench said.

“But fortunately, in Maharashtra and Mumbai, the central and the state governments, the BMC, local bodies are all doing a wonderful job. We have to respect their work,” it said.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city’s outskirts.

The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists.

The probe in the case, in which more than a dozen activists and academicians have been named accused, was later transferred to the NIA.

(PTI)

Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight

From the Reliance Infrastructure workers’ arrest to the Naxalite angle, the Bhima Koregaon violence case is mired in multiple theories.

Mumbai: In 2018, months before the Pune police had launched a country-wide raid at the houses and offices of activists, academics and lawyers, the Maharashtra state Anti- Terrorism Squad (ATS) had had rounded up five men – all contractual workers at the Reliance Infrastructure Ltd – for their alleged involvement in the disruption caused at the anti-caste commemoration at Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1 that year.

The initial story, however, swiftly changed within days. From probing their “reasons” to be at Bhima Koregaon, the ATS had moved to look at their involvement in protecting and sheltering a person allegedly from the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation. The five arrested men –Satyanarayan Rajayya Karrela, Babu Shankar Buchayya Vanguri, Shankarayya Lingayya Gunde, Ravi Rajanna Maarampalli and Saidul Narsimha Singapanga – had to suffer incarceration for a prolonged time. One of them, Singapanga, was released on bail only three years later, in May 2021.

While granting Singapanga bail, Bombay high court judge Bharati Dangre had noted that she did not find any prima facie evidence to hold him in custody. Others were granted “default bail”, after the ATS had failed to file chargesheet within the stipulated period.

That year was the 200th anniversary of the struggle of Bhima Koregaon, a significant day in anti-caste history. Several lakh Bahujans, especially those belonging to the Dalit community, commemorated the participation of Dalit soldiers who, along with the East India Company, trounced the casteist Peshwa-led army of the Maratha empire in 1818.

Similar to the Reliance Infrastructure workers’ case, there are three more cases registered with different sets of accused but revolving around the violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon. Four years since, the case dragged on.

Also read: Case Against Hindutva Leaders Ignored, No Justice in Sight for Bhima Koregaon Violence Victims

This is the fourth year since the attack on the Dalit visitors at Bhima Koregaon. In this article, we take a look at each of these cases, the police’s various versions and their legal status today.

A case mired in multiple theories

Starting with the Reliance Infrastructure limited workers’ case. The five arrested men, all Dalits and from Telangana, worked at the Chembur unit of Reliance Infrastructure. They were actively involved in the Mumbai Electric Employees’ Union (MEEU) work, seeking adequate compensation for workers and fighting for their labour rights. Their activism stuck out like a sore thumb and the management waited for an opportunity to get rid of them. “So, when we were arrested, the management dismissed us promptly,” says Vanguri.

The five workers, all in their late 30s, were active in the separate Telangana movement (for the creation of a separate Telangana state), even though they worked in Mumbai. “We would organise several public meetings and protests in the city,” Vanguri shares. And that made them an easy target, he feels.

The ATS, in the chargesheet, claimed that the five workers, along with one driver working in Dombivili – in the outskirts of Mumbai –provided an alleged Maoist shelter. The alleged Maoist, Ajay Dasari, also from Telangana, was also arrested and later released on bail. “Back home (in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh), those who associated with the Telangana movement were all painted as Maoist supporters. We too became a victim of it,” Babu told The Wire.

Babu, along with 40 other co-workers had visited Bhima Koregaon on December 31, 2017. And the same night, they returned. So, when the ATS arrested five Reliance Infrastructure workers, including Babu, several union leaders had approached the ATS officials to know the reasons for their arrest. “The ATS chief told me that their arrest was not connected to the Bhima Koregaon violence,” says Vasudevan, general secretary of the MEEU.

But Babu says, the line of questioning was all about Bhima Koregaon. “We were asked why we had travelled to Bhima Koregaon, why we attended Elgar Parishad. Why were we fighting for causes of workers outside Reliance etc. Basically, the ATS seemed unhappy with our political and social conviction,” he says.

After the arrests, all their family members were forced to leave the city. The men, however, had to stick around in Mumbai as that is one of the primary conditions of their bail. “The arrest achieved what it had to: break the Union’s work,” he says.

Even as the Reliance Infrastructure workers’ case continued, without much media attention, the Pune police had launched an all-India investigation into what it claimed – the spread of “Urban Naxalism”. Acting on the FIR registered by a Pune-based businessman Tushar Damgude, several teams of Pune police carried out synchronised raids in several cities on April 18, 2018. Organisers of Elgar Parishad, an event held at Shaniwar Wada on December 31, 2017, were questioned, their laptops and other electronic gadgets were seized. The police also targeted human rights activists and lawyers, who had nothing to do with the event.

But it was not until June 6 that year that the police made their first arrests. Five persons – Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, and Rona Wilson – were arrested in the first round. The Pune police claimed that all arrested persons were involved in “anti- national” activities and were spreading the Maoist propaganda in the urban region. They were called “Urban Naxals”.

Also read: Rona Wilson’s iPhone Infected With Pegasus Spyware, Says New Forensic Report

The police claimed that the accused persons played a direct role in inciting violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018 by organising and participating in the Elgar Parishad event. Only Dhawale and Sen were present at the event.

Within months, as the police’s action intensified, the story slowly started changing. Now, the accused persons, along with six more persons –Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Feriera, Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha – were accused of plotting a “Rajiv Gandhi-style assassination” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On August 28 that year, the police went to arrest the second group of activists and lawyers but following the interventions in both the high court and the Supreme Court, they were moved into house arrest.

As the Maharashtra police, then under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government, started making newer arrests, the story weaving around Bhima Koregaon too became weaker. The police were no longer focussing on the Bhima Koregaon violence. Newer claims were made every week. The police introduced an “international angle” and claimed the arrested accused were in touch with Maoists from Nepal. Senior Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde, who was killed in an ambush late last year in Gadchiroli, was accused of being the mastermind in the case.

In 2020, as the BJP government fell and the coalition government called the Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) composed of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress was formed in the state, the home ministry handed over the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). More arrests followed. On April 14, 2020, academic Anand Teltumbde and Navlakha – who had secured a pre-arrest bail – were taken into custody. Singers and anti-caste activists of the cultural group Kabir Kala Manch – Sagar Gorkhe, Jyoti Jagtap and Ramesh Gaichore –were arrested too. Eight-four-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest, Father Stan Swamy, was also among those arrested. Swamy, following ill- treatment in Taloja jail, died on July 5 last year.

Also read: How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

Of the 16 arrested, only two persons – Varavara Rao and Bharadwaj –are out on bail right now. It has been over three and half years, the trial is yet to commence.

A look at the initial complaints, registered by two feisty Ambedkarite women – Sushma Ohol and Anita Sawle from Pune – indicates that the Naxalite angle introduced by the police was actually an afterthought.

On December 29, 2017, three days prior to the violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon village, Ohol, a resident of Vadhu Budruk village, near Bhima Koregaon, had registered a case at Shikrapur police station. Ohol accused Milind Ekbote, a Pune-based Brahmin Hindutva leader and also the founder of the Dharmaveer Sambhaji Maharaj Smruti Samiti, as well as 49 others from Vadhu Budruk village of casteist violence in the village.

This, Ohol had stated, was a start to the violence in the region, including the one at Bhima Koregaon on January 1.

The Shikrapur police, however, did not take her complaint seriously and after the investigation was carried out shoddily, a chargesheet was filed with identical witness statements.

Similarly, in another case registered by Sawle on January 2, she named Ekbote and Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan leader Manohar Kulkarni alias Sambhaji Bhide as the “masterminds” of the attack at Bhima Koregaon. Her complaint had led to the arrest of Ekbote following cancellation of his pre-arrest bail in the Supreme Court. Bhide, however, was never even called for questioning, leave alone being arrested in the case.

Both these cases, handled by the Pune police have been put on the backburner and even after the MVA government came into power, the cases have not been pursued. Bhide, who enjoys clout across Maharashtra’s western region, is believed to be supported both by the right- wing groups and the Congress.

Advocate Nihalsing Rathod, who is representing several arrested activists in the Elgar parishad case, says the confusion and multiple theories were floated only to protect Bhide and Ekbote. “We have from the start maintained that the state should probe their role in the violence and one would be able to establish a direct link. Unless the state machinery does that, innocent people will continue to languish in jail,” Rathod added.

In the Bhima Koregaon violence, several Dalit Bahujans had testified of having seen a large mob carrying saffron flags ransacking their vehicles and attacking them. Stones were stored on the terrace of several buildings and thrown at the gathering. Many travel vehicles were torched and casteist abuses were hurled, they had claimed. These allegations were never probed.

In the violence, a Maratha youth Rahul Babaji Phatangale was killed. The police arrested three Dalit men. Of them one died soon after he was released on bail. The case is still pending in court.

The violence at Bhima Koregaon changed the discourse around the Bhima Koregaon struggle. Once an Ambedkarite congregation, where lakhs of people gathered to pay their tribute to the soldiers who fought for their dignity, is today looked at with suspicion. Barricades have come up at the spot and the entire area sees heavy police presence. Despite the shift in narrative, Ambedkar’s followers continue to gather here in large numbers.

Elgar Parishad Case: Bombay HC Extends Time Till January 7 for Varavara Rao to Surrender

The court opposed the National Investigation Agency’s plea which appealed for the immediate surrender of Rao, stating that several “other old people in need of medical treatment are also in prisons”.

New Delhi: The Bombay high court has extended time for Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to surrender till January 7, 2022. Rao is currently on medical bail.

Although Rao was granted multiple extensions since February this year, he applied for another extension, stating that he continued to suffer from several ailments. A bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and S.V. Kotwal agreed with his plea.

However, during the hearing, NIA urged the court to order Rao to surrender immediately before Taloja Prison authorities, stating that several “other old people” in need of medical treatment were also in prisons.

Additional solicitor general Anil Singh, who appeared for the NIA, told the high court that on December 17, a panel of expert doctors from the Nanavati Hospital, a private medical facility, submitted a one-page document stating that Rao had been examined thoroughly, his vital parameters were stable, and he did not need continued medical treatment or hospitalisation.

“We are not experts to examine or analyse Nanavati Hospital’s opinion. Once it says that he (Rao) is fit for discharge, then there is no question of any further extension,” Singh told the high court.

“In jail, there are other old people who need medical treatment. They are treated when needed. Let him (Rao) surrender. His age can’t be a ground for extension,” Singh said.

However, Rao’s counsel Anand Grover sought time to file an affidavit to inform the court whether or not Rao was in a position to be sent back to the prison in response to NIA submitting Nanavati Hospital’s opinion on Rao’s medical condition.

Grover then argued that in February this year, the bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and Manish Pitale had granted medical bail to Rao despite a similar opinion from the Nanavati Hospital.

Also read: Varavara Rao Medically Stable as per Hospital Report, Must Surrender: NIA Tells HC

“On my original application, Nanavati Hospital had given a similar conclusion. The hospital had said at the time that I (Rao) didn’t need indoor hospital treatment and could be discharged from the hospital,” Grover recalled.

But, the high court bench (of Justices Shinde and Pitale) had granted bail observing that Rao’s condition was “not compatible for being sent to judicial custody”, he said.

The current bench of Justices Jamdar and Kotwal then asked what the NIA had to say about the previous bench’s observations.

While ASG Singh reiterated that Rao be asked to surrender and the court could continue to decide his application for further medical bail even while the activist is in custody, the bench, however, found merit in Grover’s submissions.

The high court noted that the NIA had said it was not necessary to analyse the hospital’s preliminary report any further and that it should be accepted as “expert opinion”.

“However, the earlier bench (of Justices Shinde and Pitale) had considered the larger situation and analysed the reports despite Nanavati Hospital saying Rao’s condition had improved and he was fit for discharge. The counsel’s (Grover’s) request for this bench following the same course taken by the previous bench is justified,” the high court said in its order.

The high court directed Grover to file an affidavit by December 28 and posted the matter for further hearing on January 4, 2022.

But, Singh argued that if the process of granting extensions to Rao continued, “he will never have to surrender”. “In effect, he’s being given bail,” Singh told the high court.

The high court, however, said it was merely going by the earlier bench’s order.

The Elgar Parishad case is related to alleged inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

The police had claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links. The NIA later took over the probe into the case.

(With PTI inputs)

Varavara Rao Medically Stable as per Hospital Report, Must Surrender: NIA Tells HC

However, the high court asked the hospital where he was examined to submit the original medical reports on Monday, when the case would be taken up for further consideration.

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday told the Bombay High Court that the health condition of poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, was stable and hence must surrender before the prison authorities. However, the high court asked the hospital where he was examined to submit the original medical reports on Monday, when the case would be taken up for further consideration.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) counsel Sandesh Patil told a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and S.V. Kotwal that the 83-year-old Rao had been medically examined earlier this month by a panel of doctors at the private Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai and the doctors were of the opinion that Rao does not need continuous medical attention or hospitalisation at present.

The court was hearing the octagenarian’s plea seeking an extension of interim medical bail, which was granted to him in February this year. The plea cited his delicate health as a reason for requesting the extension. He also sought to be allowed to live in Hyderabad, of which he is a resident, during the period of bail as the cost of living in Mumbai is high.

He was lodged in the Taloja prison of Navi Mumbai earlier. He is among the 16 persons – activists, lawyers and academics – who have been arrested in the Elgar-Parishad case. The case has been described as a witch-hunt of critics of the Narendra Modi government.

“His health condition is stable now and the time granted via medical bail to him by this court is already over. So he (Rao) should surrender now. All other issues (raised by Rao’s lawyers) can be examined after that,” Patil told the high court.

Rao was granted medical bail for six months in February this year by a bench led by Justice S.S. Shinde. He was due to surrender on September 5 this year, but the time of his surrender has been extended several times by the high court since then due to reasons such as the need for further medical care and time sought by the NIA to get him medically examined.

Rao’s counsel, senior advocate Anand Grover told the bench on Friday that although the NIA had submitted the Nanavati Hospital’s opinion on Rao’s medical condition, the same wasn’t backed by any medical examination reports. He said that the high court bench must not accept such conclusion of the hospital authorities without insisting on the poet’s original medical reports.

The report submitted by the NIA is signed by two doctors from the Nanavati Hospital. It says that Rao’s health condition was “evaluated by multiple consultants” at the hospital on December 1 this year.

“Currently he has minor symptoms, such as lack of sleep and slight exhaustion. His vital parameters are in normal range. The remaining clinical examination reveals no significant abnormalities,” the document submitted by the agency reads.

It further says that Rao’s blood pressure was slightly high and hence, he was prescribed the requisite medication.

“He is able to do all his activities of daily living,” the document states, adding though that Rao experiences “some slowness in activities.”

After going through the report, the bench led by Justice Jamdar asked Grover why the court must insist on verifying the claims made in the document when it clearly stated that Rao had been examined as per the high court’s order passed on November 18, and that he was deemed to be medically stable by the hospital.

“The hospital of your choice [is] saying that everything is normal now,” the HC said.

Grover however, said that the high court must keep in mind orders of the Supreme Court that say that an appellate court has the mandate to check if the expert opinion is correct and is based on medical reports or facts.

“No expert opinion can be without reasons, this is now a settled law,” Grover said.

The high court then directed that the Nanavati Hospital submit Rao’s original medical reports by Monday, December 20.

“Ask the hospital to submit original medical reports on Monday. If we find there is something that needs to be addressed, we will hear the parties,” the high court told the NIA.

It further said that Rao needn’t surrender before the Taloja prison authorities till then.

Rao was the first among the Elgar Parishad case to be granted bail. Another accused, activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, was granted default bail earlier this month. Another octagenarian accused, the Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, died in July this year after contracting COVID-19. He was awaiting medical bail.

(With PTI inputs)