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Bhima-Koregaon Violence: Bombay High Court Judge, Justice Sarang Kotwal, recuses himself from hearing an appeal filed by accused Anand Teltumbde

Justice Kotwal recused himself on the grounds of having decided on some bail applications related to the matter earlier.

Justice Sarang Kotwal, a judge of the Bombay High Court, recused himself on Thursday, January 2, from the hearing of an appeal filed by Bhima-Koregaon case accused Anand Teltumbde. Teltumbde’s appeal had come up before a division bench comprising Justices Sarang Kotwal and M S Modak. Justice Kotwal recused himself on the grounds of having decided on some bail applications related to the matter earlier.

Anand Teltumbde had filed the concerned appeal through his lawyer Neeraj Yadav after his discharge plea was rejected by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in May 2024. The ground for rejection of his discharge plea was the presence of sufficient prima facie material suggesting his involvement in the Elgar Parishad violence of 2017. A Plethora of evidence was presented by the prosecution including witness statements, electronic records and letters to establish Teltumbde’s links with the activities of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation.

Teltumbde is accused of being one of the convenors of the Elgar Parishad event held in December 2017 and making provocative speeches there which led to the riots on January 1, 2018. A special court had rejected his bail plea in July 2021 on the ground that he was a member of the CPI (Maoist). However, later on, he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in November 2022.

The trial is yet to begin as the court is hearing the discharge applications filed by several accused persons in the case.

Details of the prosecution case

A case was registered by a complainant named Tushar Damugade in 2018 at Vishrambaug Police Station in Pune which led to the arrest of Teltumbde along with several others. In his complaint, Damugade said that a program called Elgar Parishad was organised at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, wherein the artists present gave provocative performances which had the effect of disturbing the communal harmony. The complaint further said that objectionable and provocative books were also kept for sale at the event including a book on CPI (Maoist). As per the complaint, the event led to the violence that erupted at Bhima-Koregaon on January 1, 2018, which left one dead and several injured.

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Staff reporter at OpIndia

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