"When we were confident that clear links have been established then only we moved to take action against these people, in different cities. Evidence clearly establishes their roles with Maoists," said Param Bir Singh, ADG, Maharashtra Police.
Opposition parties and colleagues of the activists alleged that the arrests were intended to "muzzle dissent" and that the police had an "agenda".
However, Maharashtra police said on Friday their investigation revealed that a big controversy was being plotted by Maoist organisations and the arrested activists were helping them to take their goals forward.
In multi-city raids on Wednesday, Maharashtra police arrested five high-profile lawyers-activists claiming they instigated violence in Bhima-Koregaon villages in Pune on January 1. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Bhima-Koregaon village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.
Searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi.
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2wBU7Q1
