Bhima Koregaon case won't be transferred to Centre, says Uddhav Thackeray after Sharad Pawar criticises handover of Elgaar Parishad probe to NIA

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday clarified that the investigation related to the Bhima Koregaon case has not yet been handed over to the Centre and assured that it will not be transferred to the Centre. Thackeray’s response comes amid his ongoing spat with BJP in the backdrop of resentment within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over the chief minister’s decision to not oppose the Centre’s move to hand over the Elgaar Parishad probe to NIA.

"एल्गार आणि भीमा कोरेगाव हे दोन वेगळे विषय आहेत. माझ्या दलित बांधवांचा जो विषय आहे तो भीमा कोरेगाव बद्दल आहे आणि त्याचा तपास मी केंद्राकडे दिलेला नाही आणि देणार नाही आणि मी स्पष्टपणे सांगू इच्छितो की दलित बांधवांवर अन्याय होऊ देणार नाही."
-मुख्यमंत्री उद्धव बाळासाहेब ठाकरे

— Office of Uddhav Thackeray (@OfficeofUT) February 18, 2020

Even Pawar and Congress’s Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge have criticised Thackeray over the decision to allow the central agency to probe the Elgaar case. “Elgaar Parishad case and Bhima Koregaon case are two different cases. Bhima Koregaon case is related to my Dalit people and the probe related to the case has not been given to Centre and I won’t do it. I will not let injustice happen to Dalits. Centre has taken over Elgaar Parishad case,” said Thackeray in a press conference in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. A sessions court on 14 February passed an order in the Bhima Koregaon case, transferring all records and further proceedings of the case to special NIA court, Mumbai. All the accused in the case will be produced before the special court of NIA in Mumbai on 28 February. The NIA had filed a petition in Pune’s Sessions Court on 29 January seeking transfer of the case to the agency’s court in Mumbai. The Maharashtra government had also filed an application before the court, had objected to transferring all the court records, seized articles from the file of this court to an NIA court in Mumbai. On 1 January, 2018, violence had erupted during the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Bhima Koregaon battle. One person lost his life while several others were injured in the incident. Police had filed 58 cases against 162 people.