Anand Teltumbde: Elgar Parishad case: Activist Anand Teltumbde arrested

Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency has arrested Dalit activist and writer Anand Teltumbde in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case alleging he “received funds from central committee of the banned CPI (Maoist) and hatched a conspiracy to promote enmity between caste groups.” Teltumbde is the grandson-in-law of BR Ambedkar and, incidentally, was arrested on Ambedkar’s 129th birth anniversary. Delhi-based civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha also surrendered before NIA’s Delhi office. He will be produced before the local court on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court had last week declined to extend interim protection from arrest to Teltumbde and gave him a week to surrender. Following which, Teltumbde reached the NIA office along with his brother-in-law Prakash Ambedkar, president of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, around noon and was subsequently placed under arrest.

“During the investigation it is revealed from the call data record of the mobile phone of accused Teltumbde that he was in contact with the arrested accused persons as well as present at the place of offence on relevant period,” states the remand application reviewed by ET. “Documentary evidence revealed that Teltumbde was convenor of the said programme… have links with banned CPI (Maoist),” added the application.

“There is conspiracy hatched by the accused persons who promoted enmity between caste groups and led to violence resulting in loss of life and state-wide agitation,” the remand plea further adds. Defending himself, Teltumbde, an engineer and an IIM alumnus, wrote that his world turned completely ‘topsy-turvy’ in August 2018 when a team of policemen raided his house in the faculty housing complex of Goa Institute of Management and accused of him having a connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

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