Koregaon-Bhima accused were procuring sophisticated weapons: NIA

The charges mention one of the motives being to 'cause the death of public functionary'

The group of accused arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon-Bhima case were sourcing funds to procure sophisticated arms and ammunition from the clandestine international market, according to the draft charges filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Though the draft charges do not mention a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi as claimed in 2018, but they mention one of the motives being to "cause the death of public functionary”.

The 17-point draft charges submitted were presented before Special Judge DE Kothalikar, who presides over the NIA court.

The accused, members of CPI (Maoist), were charged with promoting the activities and ideologies of banned outfits, mobilising people and students, training in handling sophisticated arms and explosives with the larger objective to conspire against and destabilise the government of India and Government of Maharashtra, threaten its sovereignty with large-scale violence, strike terror in the people, among other things.

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It pointed out that the CPI (Maoist) worked with its frontal organisations like Anuradha Ghandy Memorial Committee (AGMC), Kabir Kala Manch (KKM), Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO), Democratic Students Union (DSU), Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Aandolan (VVJVA), and Revolutionary Writers Association with an objective to establish "Jantana Sarkar" (people’s government) by way of an revolution supported by a commitment protracted armed struggle to undermine and to seize power from the State.

The draft charges state that the accused had conspired to demand and organize Rs 8 crore for annual supply of M4 rifles with 4,00,000 rounds and other arms through suppliers from Nepal and Manipur.

They were also accused of using substances like wires, nails, nitrate powder, and possessing and transporting sophisticated weapons like Chinese QLZ-87 Automatic Grenade Launchers, Russian GM-94 Grenade Launchers and M4 rifles with 4,00,000 rounds, which by its very nature was to cause or likely to cause death or injuries to any person or persons or loss of or damage to or destruction of properties and was an attempt to do or "cause death of public functionary."

The Maharashtra Police and later NIA had arrested a total of 16 accused in the case, of whom Father Stan Swamy passed away before of age-related ailments.

The 15 accused facing trial are: Sudhir Prahlad Dhawale, Rona Jacob Wilson alias R alias RW, Surendra Pundalikrao Gadling alias SG, Shoma Kanti Sen, Mahesh Sitaram Raut alias Rohit Verma alias Rohit, P Varavara Rao alias PV, Vernon Stanislaus Gonsalves, Arun Thomas Pereira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Bapurao Teltumbde alias AT, Gautam Navlakha alias Darbar alias G alias GN, Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil alias HB alias Venkat, Sagar Tatyaram Gorkhe alias Aakash, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor alias Yogesh, Jyoti Raghoba Shankar Jagtap alias Vaishali.

The six wanted accused are Milind Teltumbde alias Comrade M alias Dipak alias Sahyadri, Comrade Prakash alias Navin alias Ritupan Goswami, Comrade Manglu, Comrade Deepu, Kishan alias Prashanto Bose and Mupalla Laxmana Rao alias Ganpati GS alias Chandrashekar alias Comrade G.