No objection to NIA taking over Elgar Parishad case, says Maharashtra government

Police had arrested activists Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao.

Published: 13th February 2020 11:51 AM  |   Last Updated: 14th February 2020 09:29 AM   |  A+A-

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into a conclave -- Elgar Parishad -- held in Koregaon-Bhima near here on December 31 last year. | Image Courtesy: Agencies

Express News Service

MUMBAI: In a big U-turn, the Maharashtra government has withdrawn its opposition to handing over of the Elgar Parishad case probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). "We have decided to hand over the case to the NIA. We have no objections the NIA taking over the probe," state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said.

However, differences have cropped up among Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi partners over the issue. Deshmukh, who belong to the NCP, admitted that his decision of not handing over the case to the NIA was overruled by Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

“It is the right of the chief minister to overrule the decision of the home minister…So we have no objections over this decision,” Deshmukh said even as he made his displeasure clear. “The state agencies were investigating the Koregaon Bhima (Elgar Parishad) case... The Centre handed over the investigation to the NIA. As the home minister, my stand was that the Centre should have taken the state government into confidence before taking the decision.” 

Last week, Thackeray had, in an interview with Saamana, criticised the Centre’s decision, saying it had all the right to step into the probe, but should have taken the state government into confidence before handing over the investigation to the NIA.

However, he was not keen to enter into a confrontation with the Centre over the matter, sources said. "When the NCP had earlier opposed the case being transferred, the CM and other party leaders did not make any comment," a Sena leader pointed out.

Recap

Last month, the Centre had transferred the Elgar Parishad probe from Pune Police to the NIA. The case is related to speeches at Elgar conclave in 2017.


India Matters

Comments

Disclaimer : We respect your thoughts and views! But we need to be judicious while moderating your comments. All the comments will be moderated by the newindianexpress.com editorial. Abstain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks. Try to avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines.

The views expressed in comments published on newindianexpress.com are those of the comment writers alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of newindianexpress.com or its staff, nor do they represent the views or opinions of The New Indian Express Group, or any entity of, or affiliated with, The New Indian Express Group. newindianexpress.com reserves the right to take any or all comments down at any time.

flipboard facebook twitter whatsapp