Bhima Koregaon: Bombay HC rejects activist's plea to quash FIR

The Bombay High Court on Friday turned down a petition of activist Anand Teltumbde seeking to quash the FIR against him in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. But the court granted him protection from arrest for three weeks after his counsel requested the court that they wanted to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

On December 15, the Bombay High Court had increased the interim protection of Teltumbde till December 17 and that of another accused Gautam Navlakha till January 14.

Earlier this month, the Pune police registered a fresh FIR against five more accused in connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence case. With that, a total of 33 FIRs have so far been registered by the affected people, including villagers.

The Pune police, in its charge sheet filed before the Pune Sessions Court in November, alleged that the "entire campaigning for Elgaar Parishad and speeches delivered at Elgaar Parishad (on December 31 last year) aggravated the Bhima Koregaon violence."

During the course of the investigation, the police examined nearly 80 witnesses. Pahad Singh, a Naxal who had earlier surrendered, was also examined by the Pune police. During the interrogation, Singh revealed that Milind Teltumbde is a Naxal leader.

The charge sheet further states that a letter recovered from one of the arrested accused revealed that a conspiracy was being framed to plan a Rajiv Gandhi like assassination to take down Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On January 1, violence had erupted during the 200th-anniversary celebrations of Bhima-Koregaon battle, leaving one dead and several others injured.