Bhima Koregaon raids updates: Gadling's wife moves SC seeking bail for her husband, 4 other activists

Pune Police press briefing LIVE updates: Surendra Gadling’s wife has moved the apex court seeking extension of the house arrest order to activists arrested earlier. The Pune Police said that thousands of letters were recovered from the five activists arrested by the Maharashtra Police.  Quoting a letter written by an underground Maoist cadre to “comrade” Rona Wilson, the police read, “Bhima Koregaon agitation has been successful. Unfortunate death of a youth must be exploited. The riots were effective and we should mobilise the Dalit population against the rising brahmin-centred agenda of the BJP.” The police said that there were thousands of such letters and it was not possible to read out all of them. “Those who were arrested used to have secret meetings all over the world. All the original evidence is secure with Forensic lab, police only has access to clone copies.” The Pune police on Friday held a press briefing explaining the activists arrest earlier this week which caused a huge uproar across the country. “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,” PB Singh, ADG Law and Order, said while addressing the press briefing. The top cop called for a press meeting explaining why the five activists were arrested. The Maharashtra Police on Thursday sought to justify the arrest of five Left-wing activists for alleged Maoist links, saying they are in possession of “digital” evidence about a “larger conspiracy” to mobilise cadres for “action” against security forces. The Pune Police had arrested the activists after conducting raids in various cities on 28 August. “We have all the digital evidence to expose this large conspiracy about how to mobilise cadres, how to take action against security forces, which sort of weapons need to be procured and how to raise funds,” Pune Police commissioner K Venkatesham told reporters. The Supreme Court, after being approached by some prominent people challenging the arrests, ordered on Wednesday that the five activists be kept under house arrest till 6 September . [caption id=“attachment_5082321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Activists of Jan Ekta Jan Adhikar Andolan’ during a protest against the arrests of activists and alleged state repression, in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI[/caption] Venkatesham said the police would continue their investigation even though the apex court had ordered the five to be placed in house arrest. “Our investigation will go on and we will take the case to the logical end. We have certain key leads and will take them forward,” he added. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into a conclave — Elgar Parishad — held in Pune on 31 December 2017, which had allegedly triggered violence at Bhima Koregaon in the district the next day. Left-leaning poet Varavara Rao from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira from Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj from Haryana’s Faridabad, and Gautam Navlakha were arrested after the raids . When asked about seized documents that purportedly talk about procurement of weapons from Nepal and Manipur and the “role” Rao, Venkatesham said, “There are discussions in the seized communications on type of weapons that need to be procured, from where they should be procured and from which route they should be brought in”. “We have all the evidences and we will present them in the court,” he said. During the arguments in Pune court on Wednesday, the prosecution had claimed that the accused were planning to “wage a war” against the country and were involved in procuring arms, funding Naxal activities and recruiting students from reputed educational institutes. Meanwhile, a senior police officer, who is privy to the investigation, said the police have “conclusive evidence” to prove that the Bhima-Koregaon violence on 1 January was “pre-planned”. “CPI (Maoists) was preparing for the Elgar Parishad for the last several months. The objective of the conclave was to instigate people so that unrest can be created which eventually would overthrow the current government. “The result of all this (preparation) we saw on the next day at Bhima-Koregaon in the form of the caste violence,” he said. The Pune Police had on Wednesday said it had “evidence” which suggested that there was a plan to target the “higher political functionaries”. The police also claimed to have evidence to suggest that the arrested people had links with Kashmiri separatists. The Bhima Koregaon clashes had taken place during an event to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle between British forces and the Maratha Army led by Peshwas. The British Army, comprising a large number of Dalits, had defeated the Marathas in the battle. Dalits perceive the battle as the defeat of casteism of Peshwas who were Brahmins.