Bhima Koregaon case: Accused Surendra Gadling refuses to depose before inquiry commission

Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, on Friday, refused to depose before the Bhima Koregaon Inquiry Commission asserting that it might affect his argument before the trial court.

He told the commission that his argument in the case will be out in the open if he deposes before them.

He, along with co-accused Sudhir Dhawale, was summoned by the inquiry commission last month and asked to appear before it on September 6 and 7, respectively.

Sudhir Dhawale is slated to appear before commission tomorrow.

Both of them were arrest last year and are currently lodged in Yerawada jail.

On January 1 in 2018, violence had erupted at an event to mark 100 years of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, leaving one dead and several injured, including 10 policemen.

The police had filed 58 cases against 162 people during a state-wide shutdown in January following clashes in Bhima-Koregaon.

Later that year, they filed a charge sheet against ten people, including five arrested activists- Roma Wilson, Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Surendra Gadling and five absconding accused- Commander Dipak Milind Teltumbde, Kishanda Prashant Bose, Prakash Naveen Rituoam Goswami, Commanders Deepu and Manglu.

The police, in its charge sheet, alleged that Elgaar Parishad, which was organised at Pune's Shaniwar Wada on December 31, 2017, had aggravated the violence in Koregaon Bhima a day later.

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.