Khushi Gupta
Published on: April 29, 2022 at 13:05 IST
Three more Accused in the Bhima Koregaon Case have approached the Special Court under the National Investigation Agency Act seeking discharge from all charges against them in the 2018 Case.
Accused Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Dr Anand Teltumbde have sought discharge from Charges in the Case linked to the Elgar Parishad event.
Dhawale stated that his speech called for protecting Democracy and for peaceful resistance in accordance with the Fundamental Right to Speech under Constitution of India.
Dhawale further contended that the addition of two more persons as accused in First Information Report without them being present at the event showed the Malafides and Prejudiced intent of the investigation to facilitate planting of fabricated electronic records in their computer hard disks and stage a pre-planned discovery.
The Plea filed by Mahesh Raut through Advocate Vijay Hiremath, stated that no Case was made out against him either under Indian Penal Code or Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
The allegations against Raut were of having handled money for the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and for having helped two students go to Gadchiroli.
The allegation against Teltumbde was that he along with seven others were allegedly members of Communist Party of India (Maoist) and were involved in furtherance of the agenda through different means.
Teltumbde stated in his Application filed through Advocates R Satyanarayanan and Neeraj Yadav, that the National Investigation Agency failed to produce any material before the Court to show that he is a member of Communist Party of India.
In the alternative, Teltumbde prayed for Deletion of Offences under Section 13, 16, 17, 18, 18A, 18B and 20 of the UAPA (Punishment for Terrorist Activities).
Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) member and youngest accused in the Case Jyoti Jagtap had filed the First Discharge Application in the 2018 Case. The National Investigation Agency on Thursday filed its response opposing the discharge application.