Bhima Koregaon: NIA submits affidavit stating accused have been provided copies of all evidence

The long-pending plea before the special court constituted under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, 2008 has been for the NIA to comply with Section 207 (supply of a copy of the police report and other documents to the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

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ON Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an affidavit stating that it has provided copies of all materials relied upon by it to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.

The NIA court of special judge Rajesh Kataria is hearing the plea for the NIA to comply with Section 207 (supply of a copy of the police report and other documents to the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

During the previous hearings, the accused persons had raised the grievance that despite filing several applications with the investigating authorities under Section 207 of the CrPC, they had not been allowed access to the compact disks which are an important piece of evidence furnished by the NIA in the case.

On September 5, the NIA court had directed the NIA to comply with the Order, dated May 23, 2022, of the predecessor judge of the NIA court, that had directed the agency to furnish a chart consisting of the details of electronic devices seized in the case to be supplied to accused persons.

On September 18, however, special public prosecutor Shrikant Sonkawade, appearing for the NIA, provided the accused persons with annexures of electronic evidence from the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Pune. 

Sonkawade claimed that the accused persons have been provided with cloned copies of all the evidence.

Notably, the counsels for the accused had submitted that the NIA did not comply with the previous Order of the court in providing a chart of the details of the seized electronic evidence.

Consequently, the court had directed the NIA to file an affidavit declaring that the prosecution would not be relying on any electronic evidence other than those copies of which have been provided to the accused on hard disks.

Today, the investigating officer filed an affidavit stating the dates on which the cloned copies or the annexure reports received from the FSL were given to each of the accused persons.

The affidavit claims that documents, statements and other materials that the prosecution is relying upon have already been supplied to all the accused as per the requirements of Section 207 of the CrPC. It also claims that no further material remains to be given to the accused persons.

However, the affidavit is silent in respect of copies of seized electronic records provided to the accused. The details of the electronic documents included in the cloned copies supplied, as prayed by the accused, do not find a place in the affidavit.

The matter is posted for further hearing on discharge applications on November 3.

Background

In connection with the Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case, on June 6, 2018, Pune police arrested several activists, lawyers and academics.

These included human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist, Surendra Gadling; Dalit rights activist and editor of the Marathi magazine Vidrohi, Sudhir Dhawale; activist and researcher, and member of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, Rona Wilson.

Former head of the English department at Nagpur University, and Dalit and women's rights activist, Shoma Sen; and forest rights activist and former fellow of Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship Programme of the Union Ministry of Rural Development, Mahesh Raut were also arrested.

On August 28, 2018, activist, poet, writer and teacher Dr P. Varavara Rao; trade unionist, activist and lawyer, Sudha Bharadwaj; Arun Ferreira; trade unionist, activist and academic, Vernon Gonsalves; and human rights activist and journalist, Gautam Navlakha were arrested and lodged in Mumbai's Taloja jail.

In the subsequent months, scholar, writer and civil rights activist, Dr Anand Teltumbde; tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest, Father Stan Swamy; an anti-caste activist, Hany Babu; and musical performers, anti-caste activists and members of the cultural troupe Kabir Kala Manch, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap, were also arrested.

Trial is yet to begin in the Bhima Koregaon case. The prosecution in the case has filed a chargesheet exceeding 5,000 pages and intends to cross-examine at least 200 witnesses.

Ten of the 16 accused persons are presently incarcerated, having now spent two to almost five years in judicial custody without trial.

In addition to Gonsalves and Ferreira, who were granted bail on July 28, three of the other accused persons, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao and Anand Teltumbde have also managed to secure bail so far.

Another accused, tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, passed away in judicial custody in July 2021 after contracting Covid in prison while awaiting bail on medical grounds.

An investigation by Arsenal Consulting, a leading, independent expert firm on digital forensics, has revealed that sophisticated malware was used to plant the digital evidence that forms the basis for the prosecution's case on the devices of two of the accused persons in the case, Surendra Gadling and Rona Wilson.

Arsenal's findings were published in four reports in 2021.