Maharashtra govt irked as NIA takes over Bhima Koregaon case

Mumbai, Jan 25: The 2018 Koregaon-Bhima violence case has been taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday. This came a day after the Maharashtra government held a review meeting with senior Pune police officers to take a call on pursuing the matter.

However, the Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh slammed the Union government and accused that it has transferred the probe of the case to the NIA without the state government's consent.

Meanwhile, the centre's decision has triggered another face-off with the Uddhav Thackeray government. The Maharashtra government was seen to be preparing to withdraw all cases against intellectuals and social activists accused of inciting the clashes.

Such "unconstitutional action" has reportedly irked Maharashtra Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, and he sought to remind the centre that law and order is a state subject, he said that Defence goes to centre while law and order come to the state. When centre takes over certain subjects of a state, it means they trample on its constitutional rights.

On January 1, 2018, Koregaon-Bhima in Pune district boiled up triggering massive violence in the area, during Dalit groups were celebrating 200 years of a British-era battle.

Then Pune police had filed cases against the activists and intellectuals who gave speeches at Elgar Parishad gathering a day before the violence.

The critics have accused then BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis, of jailing activists opposed to its ideology and branding them as "Urban Naxals".