The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is investigating the violence in Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra from 2018 and the conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, questioned Father Stan Swamy for about two and a half hours on Thursday at Namkum in Ranchi. The NIA is expected to disclose in the details of the enquiry on Friday. This is the third time Father Stan Swamy is being interrogated in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case. In the past, the Maharashtra police had raided his residence twice. The first instance was on 28th August 2018, when Maharashtra police had seized several documents including laptops, pen drives, CDs, mobiles from his residence. Maharashtra police had questioned him a second time as well.
In January this year, the case was taken over by the NIA. The NIA team questioned Father Stan Swamy, who calls himself a human rights activist, for the first time. It is alleged that violence erupted in Bhima Koregaon in 2018 only after the provocative speech by him and his colleagues. On 1st January 2018, violence erupted at Bhima Koregaon near Pune. A day earlier, a rally had been held under the banner of the Yalgar Council and it is alleged that planning for violence was done in the same rally. The organization was also accused of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The police had also recovered evidence related to it and many people were also arrested. It was claimed that Yalgar Council rally was supported by more than 300 organizations.
The link of Bhima Koregaon goes back to the British rule. It is known for the war between the Peshwas-led Maratha Empire and the East India Company. The Maratha army was badly defeated in this war where they were was confronted with the Mahar (Dalit) Regiment of the East India Company. Therefore, the credit for this victory went to the soldiers of the Mahar Regiment. Since then, Bhima Koregaon was considered to be the victory of the Mahars or the Dalits, over the Peshwas. It was established as a monument and every year people of Dalit community celebrated this victory here on 1st January. A day before the 200th anniversary of the war on January 2018, i.e. on December 31, 2017, a rally was organized by several organizations under the banner of Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Diwas Inspiration Campaign. It was named ‘ Yalgar Parishad ‘.
Violence erupted in Sansawari after the rally. Stone pelting took place in some areas. A young man was also killed during the unrest. The police claim that the Yalgar Council is just a mask and Maoists were using it to spread their ideology. Pune police arrested Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bhardwaj, Varwar Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves and had said in the court that the five arrested persons are members of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) and the Yalgar Council was a part of their efforts to destabilize the country.
