Bhima-Koregaon case: Anand Teltumbde arrested

Leading intellectual and management scholar Professor Anand Teltumbde was arrested on Saturday from Mumbai a day after his anticipatory bail petition was rejected by a Pune court.

Teltumbde was accused of having alleged links to Maoists, according to police, who had supported the Elgar Parishad meet on December 31, 2017, a day before the annual congregation of Bhima-Koregaon near Pune.

On Friday, an Additional session court rejected Teltumbde's anticipatory bail, observing the prosecution has sufficient evidence against him. "In my view, there is sufficient material collected by the investigating officer to show the involvement of the present accused in the alleged commission of the offence," the Additional session court judge observed.

The prosecution on Thursday had submitted an envelope containing "evidence", claiming that it proves Teltumbde's involvement in Maoist activities.

On January 14, the Supreme Court had rejected his plea to quash FIRs against him. The apex court has given him 4-week protection from arrest.

Teltumbde is a relative of Prakash Ambedkar, founder-president Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. In fact, Anand's brother Milind Teltumbde is an underground Naxalite and is wanted by the Gadchiroli police for the last several years.

Following the Supreme Court order, the professor in Goa Institute of Management had sought support from like-minded people. An online petition, signed by 7,375 people, has requested prime minister to quash FIR against Teltumbde.

Belongs to a poor family, Teltumbde graduated from IIM-Ahmedabad and he is now a leading expert in big data analyst. Currently, he serving general secretary of Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) and had held posts like Executive Director of BPCL, MD and CEO of Petronet India.

As the part of a crackdown of alleged Urban Maoists, the Pune police have arrested at least 10 human rights activists. In June last year, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale were arrested from different parts of the country for their alleged involvement in banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The police in August arrested eminent right activists Sudha Bharadwaj, P Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves for attending Elghar Parishad conclave in Pune. After huge uproar and intervention of Supreme Court, the latter five were placed under house arrest.

Reactions

Several people expressed their shock on his arrest.

Dr Anand Teltumbde arrested at 330am at Mumbai airport by Pune Police in Gross violation of SC order giving him protection from arrest till 11th February , this is contempt of the order of the Supreme Court of India #ReleaseDrAnandTeltumbde immediately

— indira jaising (@IJaising) February 2, 2019

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Breaking news: writer, scholar and activist Anand Teltumbde arrested by Pune police in Bhima Koregaon violence although SC has stayed arrest till Feb 11.. Police better have a strong case else to arrest a leading academic and Ambedkar scholar could badly rebound..

— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) February 2, 2019

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In India these days murderous goons roam free and intellectuals are arrested. Another thinker and scholar targeted. Outrageous arrest of #AnandTeltumbde at 3.30 am, in violation of SC order that had stayed his arrest. #ReleaseAnandTeltumbde immediately

— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) February 2, 2019

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(With inputs from PTI)