Pune court transfers Koregaon-Bhima case to NIA

Pune: A Pune sessions court on Friday allowed the transfer of the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon-Bhima case with all papers and record from Maharashtra Police to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The ruling came a day after the Maharashtra government indicated it had no objection to the NIA taking over the case and conducting the further proceedings.

All the accused in the case will now be produced before the Special NIA Court in Mumbai on February 28.

On January 30, the NIA had moved the Pune court seeking transfer of the case to the Special NIA Court, but the Pune police had said that it would do it only after getting written orders from the state government.

The Centre's abrupt move to hand over the case to NIA without consulting the state was strongly criticized by the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance government of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress, terming it as "unconstitutional".

The case dates back to the December 31, 2017 Elgar Parishad in Pune, followed by the caste riots the next day in Koregaon-Bhima, and subsequently the nationwide swoop on over a dozen activists in June-August 2018.

The activists were charged with carrying out anti-national activities, plans to create political disturbances, waging war against India, conspiring to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and overthrowing the government.