Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry: Prakash Ambedkar questioned on funds used for ‘Elgaar Parishad’

Advocate B G Bansode asked Ambedkar about a submission made by senior police officer Ravindra Sengaonkar before the commission that CPI Maiosts have contributed funds for organising Elgaar Parishad.

Ambedkar replied, “It is totally wrong and absolutely false. The funds were collected from the common people and in the end, to meet the expenses, some of the supporters were even required to hypothecate their valuables such as gold ornaments.”

Ambedkar requested the commission to recall Sengaonkar and other police officers and allow him to cross-examine them. Sengaonkar has now retired and he was the additional commissioner of Pune city police when Elgaar Parishad was held, in his jurisdiction.

The two-member commission headed by retired high court judge Justice J N Patel is probing into the causes that led to the violence in Koregaon Bhima area in Pune on January 1, 2018, leaving one person dead and several others injured.

According to the investigation carried out by the Pune city police, the Elgaar Parishad received funds from the banned CPI-Maoist and that speeches delivered at the conclave and previous campaigns held for the event were among the factors that led to the Koregaon Bhima violence. Pune city police had arrested nine persons, including some organisers of the Elgaar Parishad, under sections of IPC and UAPA, for their alleged links with the CPI-Maoist. The case was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which arrested seven more activists in this case.

Refuting allegations made by Pune police, Ambedkar claimed that he along with retired Supreme Court judge Justice P B Sawant and retired high court judge Justice B G Kolse Patil were organisers of Elgaar Parishad. Ambedkar told the commission that “constitutional values and democracy” were the main views expressed in songs and speeches in the Elgaar Parishad.

In his affidavit before the commission, Ambedkar has alleged the role of Hindutva leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote in Koregaon Bhima violence. During cross examination by advocate Kiran Channe, Ambedkar referred to the affidavit filed by the Pune rural police in Supreme Court, which blamed Ekbote for the Koregaon Bhima violence.

Based on a complaint filed by a Dalit political activist Anita Sawale, an FIR was also lodged against Bhide, Ekbote and others for allegedly instigating the violence in Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018. Pune rural police had Ekbote arrested in this case, but he was later released on bail by the court. Police never arrested Bhide, claiming no evidence against him. During her cross-examination, when a lawyer had told Sawale that Bhide and Ekbote were not present in Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018, and “people were spreading rumours” about their presence, she had replied “May be true, I do not know”.