Bhima-Koregaon Case: Pune Court Sends Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves to 14-day Judicial Custody

Ferreira claimed he was beaten up during interrogation.

Pune: The Pune Sessions Court on Tuesday sent Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, all three accused in Bhima Koregaon violence case, to 14-day judicial custody, reported ANI.  Also, Ferreira alleged in court that he was beaten up during custodial interrogation. He said that on Nov 4, during interrogation, he was slapped about 8-10 times by police officials and that the next day, he was taken to the hospital.

Last week, the court had rejected the bail plea of Shoma Sen. Sen and four others– Mahesh Raut, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale and Rona Wilson, were arrested for “Maoist” links in June. The five were accused of their alleged involvement in the violence that erupted earlier this year during the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle.

Apart from them, poet Vara Vara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj, activists Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, and Gautam Navlakha, were also put under house arrest since August 29 for their alleged involvement in the violence.

Earlier, the Maharashtra government, in an affidavit, had told the Supreme Court that the activists were “members of banned terrorist organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist)”.

The Supreme Court had rejected a review plea of historian Romila Thapar who had sought a review of its verdict that upheld the arrest of the five rights activists. “We have perused the review petition as well as the grounds in support thereof. In our opinion, no case for review of judgment dated September 28, 2018 is made out. The review petition is accordingly dismissed,” a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said while dismissing the plea.

The Supreme Court also stayed the Bombay High Court order refusing extension of time to the state police for filing chargesheet in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case.Recently, the Bombay High Court had set aside the lower court’s order allowing extension of time to police to file its probe report against the rights activists in the violence case.