Elgaar Parishad speeches led to Jan 1 violence: Pune city police tells commission

The two-member Koregaon Bhima Inquiry Commission, instituted by the state government, is probing the causes of the January 1 violence, in which one person was killed and several others injured. This is the first time that a government agency, in its affidavit before the commission, has directly pinned the blame for the violence on Elgaar Parishad. Other agencies that have submitted their affidavits to the commission, including Pune Rural Police, had not blamed any specific individual or organisation for the violence.

Pune Rural Police, for instance, had told the inquiry commission, in an affidavit submitted two days ago, that the violence was caused by a “sudden clash between two mobs carrying blue and saffron flags”. That affidavit had not blamed the violence on any particular organisation or individual.

Sengaonkar’s affidavit, on the other hand, points towards the Elgaar Parishad and its organisers. It says that the Elgaar Parishad was organised by the banned CPI-Maoist and its operatives as “part of the strategy of the outfit to overthrow the democratic system established in the country as per the Indian Constitution”. The affidavit also mentions that some of the organisers of the event, and many others who have later been named as accused in an FIR, were found to be working as per this strategy of the CPI-Maoist.

The affidavit states that “speeches causing ‘varg kalah’ (class conflict) were made during the Elgaar Parishad. Due to it, huge number of people gathered at Koregaon Bhima on January 1. speeches, statements and other objectionable programmes held in the Elgaar Parishad were provocative. It resulted in tensions among the people gathered at Koregaon Bhima on January 1 and caused hatred and differences in the society, and serious law and order situation, leaving its impact across the state”.

With the affidavit, Sengaonkar has also attached a report on the probe into the Elgaar Parishad case, that has seen the arrest of several prominent activists and lawyers from across the country.

When contacted, advocate Shishir Hiray, counsel for the state, confirmed that the affidavit by Pune City Police has been submitted to the commission.