AMN / MUMBAI
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said there is evidence of Smbaji Bhide’s role in Bhima Koregaon violence.
“There is not a single document or evidence to substantiate the role of Sambhaji Bhide in the Koregaon Bhima incident,” CM said in the Maharashtra Assembly
On January 1 this year, lakhs of Dalits had assembled to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. In clashes that followed between Dalits and Marathas, one person died.
Fadnavis said the investigation into all aspects of the violence, including Hindutva leader Bhide’s call records for the last six months, have not yielded any positive signs of his covert or overt role in the violence. While asserting that his government would not spare anybody found guilty in the clashes, Fadnavis said, “To ascertain the truth, call records of Bhide for the last six months were checked along with his locations and movements. Even his close associates’ movements and acts were probed to find if there was any link to Koregaon Bhima.”
Read | Koregaon-Bhima violence: Fadnavis vows ‘stern action against those found guilty’
He said the state government has kept the investigation open-ended and whatever information or evidence comes forward, would be probed. Giving out a stern message about his government’s intolerance towards violence or communal clashes, Fadnavis said, “Anybody found guilty would be punished. Even if it is a member of my own family.”
Earlier, another right-wing leader Milind Ekbote was arrested, for his alleged role in the same clashes, due to the Maharashtra government’s initiative, he asserted. “After investigation by the state police, the administration ensured that Ekbote did not get interim bail from the district, sessions and the high courts.”
