NIA arrests Jharkhand social worker Stan Swamy in Bhima Koregaon case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested Ranchi-based social worker Father Stan Swamy for questioning in connection with the violence that had broken out near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Maharashtra in 2018.

Ranchi (Jharkhand): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested Ranchi-based social worker Father Stan Swamy in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case.

Swamy was taken from his Bagaicha residence and placed under arrest for links with the banned CPI(Maoist), the NIA officials alleged. He will be moved to Mumbai where the agency will ask for his remand before the designated court, they said.

Citing his age and health reasons, Swamy said he could not go to the NIA camp office. NIA officials then also took Swamy's close aide Solomon David to look after him.

Swamy is the sixteenth person to be arrested in the case, in which people have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law UAPA.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM), a forum of rights groups, alleged that the NIA team did not present any warrant and behaved roughly with Swamy while detaining him.

Those close to Swamy said that they had been getting information about the NIA team's visit for the past 2-3 days. They claimed that NIA, Mumbai had already issued a summon to Swamy for questioning, but he had informed them about his health condition.

NIA officials said investigations established he was actively involved in the activities of the CPI (Maoist). The NIA also alleged that he was in contact with conspirators -- Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde to further the group's activities.

The agency alleged that Swamy had also received funds through an associate for furthering the agenda. Besides, he is convenor of the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), a frontal organisation of the CPI(Maoist), the officials claimed.

They said literature, propaganda material of the CPI(Maoist) and documents related to communications for furthering the group's programmes were seized from his possession.

In a video posted hours before his arrest, Swamy said the NIA had been interrogating him and had questioned him for 15 hours during a span of five days.

"Now they want me to go to Mumbai, which I have said that I won't go," he said, citing the pandemic. The video, posted on YouTube, was recorded two days before his arrest.

Read:Right decision by centre to hand over Bhima-Koregaon case to NIA: Fadnavis

"I have never been to Bhima Koregaon for which I am being made an accused," he said. He added that he had asked for questioning through video conference and hoped that better "human sense" would prevail.

"...what is happening to me is not something unique happening to me alone, it is a broader process taking place all over the country. We all are aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, student leaders are all put in jail because they have expressed their dissent or raised questions about the ruling powers of India, Swamy said in the video.

He said he is part of the process and in a way happy to be so because he is not a silent spectator and is part of the game. "I am ready to pay the price whatever be it," Swamy said.

The Bhima Koregaon case was taken over by the NIA on January 24 this year. Pune Police has alleged that the violence was caused following speeches given by members of the group Elgar Parishad a day before.

Pertinently, earlier on August 6 this year, a team from NIA had arrived from the national capital and questioned Swamy for close to three hours in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. In July 2019, an eight-member team from the Maharashtra Police had arrived in Ranchi and raided Swamy's residence. Following the over three hour searches, the police team seized Swamy's computer hard disk and internet modem. Further, the team also took Swamy's e-mail and FaceBook details. Even in August 2018, the Maharashtra Police had similarly raided Swamy's residence.

Read:SC rejects bail plea by activist Sudha Bharadwaj in Elgar case

Father Stan Swamy is a prominent social worker from Jharkhand who has been working for the tribal community and other oppressed communities. He specifically focused on the displacement of communities and their exploitation by resource companies, rights of under-trial prisoners, and the PESA law.

The case relates to the violence that had broken out near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune district on January 1, 2018.

Dalits visit the memorial in large numbers as it commemorates the victory of British forces, which included Dalit soldiers over the army of the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of Pune in 1818.

(With inputs from agencies)