Centre transferred Koregaon-Bhima probe to NIA without state's

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Friday hit out at the Union government, claiming that it has transferred the probe of the 2018 Koregaon-Bhima violence case to the National Investigation Agency without the state government's consent.

The case was being probed by the Pune Police.

Deshmukh tweeted on Friday evening that the Centre took this decision after the new Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra decided to "go to the root of the matter".

"...I condemn this decision. This is against the Constitution," the minister, who belongs to the NCP, added.

Violence had broken out near Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune district on January 1, 2018.

Dalits visit the memorial in large numbers as it commemorates victory of British forces which included Dalit Mahar soldiers over the army of the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of Pune in 1818.

The police had claimed that provocative speeches at Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017, led to the violence, and Maoists were behind the conclave.

They later arrested several Left-leaning activists including Telugu poet Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj for alleged links to Maoists.