Bhima-Koregaon case won’t be given to NIA: Sena chief

Mumbai: After handing over the investigation into the Elgar Parishad case to the National Investigation Agency, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said his government would not hand over probe in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case to the Centre.

“Elgar and Bhima-Koregaon are two separate topics. The issue facing my Dalit brothers is about Bhima-Koregaon and I will not give it to the Centre. I want to make it clear that there will be no injustice to Dalit brothers,” Mr Thackeray tweeted.

The violence at Bhima-Koregaon was a result of the alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Paw-ar had publicly expressed his unhappiness over the chief minister’s decision to hand over the Elgar Parishad probe to the National Investiga-tion Agency. On Tuesday, he claimed that the previous Devendra Fadnavis-led government had misused police machinery in the Elgar Parishad case.

“The Fadnavis-led BJP government and the Pune police ‘misused’ their power in Elgar Parishad case,” said Mr Pawar. He demanded that an SIT be appointed to probe the conduct of Pune police and the misuse of power by the Fadnavis-led government.

Mr Pawar claimed that the Centre transferred the case from the state to the National Investi-gation Agency fearing that the truth would be out. The activists in the Elgar Parishad case could be termed as aggressive but not anti-nationals, he added.

“The violence at Koregaon-Bhima was the result of a ‘different atmosphere’ created by Hindutva activists Mili-nd Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide. Cases were also registered by Pune police against those who were neither involved with Elgar Parishad nor the Koregaon-Bhima violence,” he said.

The former Union minister also said the Elgar Parishad case and the case of violence at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune were two totally different cases.