Koregaon Bhima violence: Elgaar Parishad activist questioned about Mohsin Shaikh murder case

In January this year, a court in Pune had acquitted all the accused, including HRS chief Dhananjay Desai alias Bhai, who were arrested for Shaikh’s murder.

Potdar told the commission that she started following the Shaikh murder case after the Koregaon Bhima riots on January 1, 2018, “because the modus operandi of the perpetrators of violence were the same in both the incidents”.

Potdar was among the organisers of the ‘Elgaar Parishad’, a conclave held in Pune’s Shaniwar Wada on December 31, 2017, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima. Next day on January 1, 2018, widespread violence was reported in the Koregaon Bhima area, in which one person died while several others were left injured.

The two-member commission, headed by retired High Court Justice J N Patel and comprising the then chief secretary Sumit Mallick as another member, is probing into the causes that led to the Koregaon Bhima violence.

In her affidavit before the commission, Potdar made mention of the Shaikh murder case along with a few more incidents of alleged attack on Muslims in other parts of Pune, claiming it to be well-planned violence by Hindutva activists, and that all attacks were not carried out by one particular group.

Replying to advocate Hiray, Potdar said she was aware that the accused in the Shaikh murder case were acquitted. When Hiray asked whether she made any attempt to appeal against the judgment, Potdar said, “No”.

Hiray submitted a copy of the chargesheet and judgment in the Shaikh murder case before the commission. Hiray asked Potdar whether she was aware that police had arrested and chargesheeted 21 persons in the Shaikh murder case. Potdar said she does not remember.

Meanwhile, in her affidavit, Potdar has blamed Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide for the Koregaon Bhima violence. However, both were never named in the Shaikh murder case.

As per the Pune City police investigation, the Elgaar Parishad was organised according to a strategy of the CPI-Maoist and speeches delivered at the conclave and previous campaigns for the event were among the factors that led to the Koregaon Bhima violence.

Potdar is among the 23 people who were booked by the Pune City police in the Elgaar Parishad case for their alleged links with the banned CPI-Maoist. The Pune police had arrested nine people in the case under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The case was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The NIA had further arrested seven activists. Potdar was never arrested.