Bhima Koregaon: NIA charges 8, Teltumde named as absconding accused

New Delhi, Oct 09: The NIA on Friday filed a charge-sheet against eight people, including social activist Gautam Navlakha, Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu and tribal leader Father Stan Swamy, for their alleged involvement in inciting a mob to violence in Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018, officials said.

NIA spokesperson and Deputy Inspector General of Police in the agency Sonia Narang said the charge-sheet was submitted before a designated court. The eight people were arrested during the course of the investigation.

The NIA had arrested Father Stan Swamy, an activist who works with tribals. He was picked up from his home in Jharkhand earlier in the morning of October 9.

The case relates to the violence on January 1, 2018, in which one person was killed and several injured after clashes at the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Koregaon near Pune.

The others named in the charge-sheet are Goa Institute of Management professor Anand Teltumbde, and Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, activists of the Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyaan group. The NIA has also named Milind Teltumde as accused. He is absconding. NIA took over the case on January 24 this year.