Maharashtra reviews Bhima Koregaon cases in which activists were jailed

Mumbai, Jan 23: The Maharashtra government is reviewing the cases related to the 2018 Koregaon Bhima violence, for which 10 activists were jailed during the previous BJP-led rule in the state.

Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, a senior NCP leader, has called senior officials of Pune Police to Mumbai for a meeting.

The case has been politically charged, with the BJP facing allegations of jailing activists who were opposed to its ideology and branding them as "urban Naxals".

NCP chief Sharad Pawar last month demand that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be set up under a retired judge to probe the action taken by Pune Police in the Koregaon Bhima case.

NCP leader Deshmukh, after taking charge as Home minister, said earlier this month that he would seek a status report on the case and then take a decision.

The term "urban Naxal" was used by the Pune Police probing the alleged links between the Elgar Parishad conclave of December 31, 2017 and the caste clashes around Koregaon Bhima in Pune district the next day. While some rights activists were arrested in the case by the Pune city police, their rural counterparts had booked Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide for allegedly inciting violence. Ekbote was granted bail by the Supreme Court, while Bhide was never arrested.

The Pune Police have claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists. The parishad, they alleged, instigated violence near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial on January 1, 2018.