Accused In Elgar Parishad Case Wanted To Create Unrest In Country, Overthrow Government: NIA Court

A Special NIA Court in Mumbai has denied bail to three persons accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, saying that the material on record suggests that the trio, along with other members of the CPI (Maoist), a banned organisation, hatched a "serious conspiracy" to create unrest in the country and to overthrow the Modi government.

A letter placed on record prima facie speaks that the CPI (Maoist) was bent upon ending the "Modi raj" and that they were also thinking of another incident like the death of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, by targeting the road shows of PM Narenda Modi, the Court said.

The three accused, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap, all members of the Kabir Kala Manch, were denied bail by the Special NIA Court Judge D E Kothalikar on Monday. The detailed order was made available on Thursday.

"From the letters and documents placed on record, prima facie it can be gathered that the applicants along with other members of the banned organisation hatched a serious conspiracy to create unrest in the entire country and to overpower the government, politically," the Court said.

The material placed on record prima facie denotes that the accused were not only members of the banned organisation CPI (Maoist), but they were carrying out activities further in the objective of the organisation, which is nothing but to overthrow democracy of the nation, it said.

Referring to a letter placed on record, the court said, "The contents of the aforesaid letter prima facie speaks that the CPI (Maoist) was bent upon ending the Modi raj, that is the Modi-led government. Not only this, they were also thinking to go for another incident, like the death of Rajiv Gandhi, by targeting the road shows of Modi."

"If these allegations are taken into consideration in proper perspective in that case, there will be no hesitation to prima facie conclude that there is prima facie case against the applicants that they have done an act with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India and with intent to strike terror in section of the people in India by other means to likely to cause death of, or injuries to, any person or persons," the Court added.

The Court further said that the material placed on record prima facie establishes that the applicants were actively involved in the organisation of Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune.

Jagtap, Gorkhe and Gaichor were arrested in September 2020 and have been in custody since then.

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 outskirts of the city.

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

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

With PTI inputs