The National Investigation Agency(NIA)in a latest development has summoned a professor of Delhi University in the context of the Bhima Koregaon case.
In brief, the Bhima Koregaon case is about the outbreak of violence between the Dalits and the Marathas in a village named Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1,2018. This violence had taken place just a day after an event in Pune called the Elgar Parishad had been organised in order to commemorate the Historic Battle of Bhima Koregaon in 1818. It was in this battle that the Dalit Mahar solders had fought for the British Army and defeated the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of the Maratha empire. One person had even lost his life during the band called by Dalit outfits on January 1.
The professor who has been summoned in this regard is MT Hany Babu who will now be required to appear before the NIA special court on July 15 in Mumbai. These summons had been delivered to him by an officer on Saturday. Professor Hany Babu teaches in the English department of the university and has been a well-known anti-caste activist. He is also the member of a committee that was formed by GN Saibaba, who is presently serving a life-term in the Nagpur jail for his alleged maoist inclinations.
The Maharashtra Police conducted a search at Babu’s home as part of the investigation in September last year and took away his laptop. Babu alleges that the police also took away books and notes. He said that his association with the activists who have been arrested in the case is solely academic and that he had nothing to do with the organisation and publicity of the event.
It is also in the context of this case that one of the accused in the case, Gautam Navlakha was moved from Delhi to Mumbai, ignoring a pending bail petition that he had filed in the Delhi High Court.
The NIA has been very active in this case over the last couple of months. The NIA has been opposing bail applications by the accused including that of poet Varavara Rao, whose family has been consistently reporting of his falling health in prison.
