Milind Teltumbde organised weapons training in forests: NIA claims in its charge sheet in Bhima Koregaon case

Absconding accused Milind Teltumbde had organised arms training in the Korchi forest area of Maharashtra's Gadchiroli for three activists of the banned organisation Kabir Kala Manch, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) claimed in its charge sheet filed in the Bhima Koregaon case last week.

The three activists were Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap.

The NIA in its 10,000 page charge sheet said that on the directions of Milind Teltumbde, Gorkhe, Gaichor and Jagtap were furthering the activities of the CPI (Maoist) in the urban areas.

"In 2011, after the arrest of Angela Sontakke, wife of Milind Teltumbde, Gaichor, Gorkhe and Jagtap visited the Korchi forest area of Gadchiroli and met Milind, who is the CCM and Secretary of Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (CMMC) zone of the CPI (Maoist). They stayed there for 2-3 months," the NIA said in the charge sheet, which has been seen by IANS.

The NIA claimed: "Gorkhe, Gaichor and Jagtap underwent training related to the usage of weapons and explosives in the forest area."

The NIA alleged that in 2012, Gaichor and Gorkhe along with Rupali Jadhav, wife of Gorkhe, again visited the Korchi forest area and met Milind Teltumbde there.

"They stayed there for 20 days and discussed the furtherance in the urban areas," it said.

Teltumbde is the brother of Dalit scholar Professor Anand Teltumbde, who is also accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and was arrested in April this year.

The NIA arrested Gorkhe and Gaichor on September 7 this year, while Jagtap was nabbed on September 8 under the UAPA and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The NIA also claimed that Delhi University Associate Professor Hany Babu, who was arrested from his residence in Uttar Pradesh's Noida in July this year, was in contact with Paikhomba Meitei, Secretary I&P Military Affairs KCP (MC), an organisation banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The NIA alleged that Babu used to help in raising funds to help CPI (Maoist) cadre released from prison. The NIA claimed that it has recovered the mails of Babu mentioning the release of CPI (Maoist) members.

The NIA further alleged that he was assigned to do the work of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), a banned terror organisation in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He was also tasked to manage a fact finding team in eastern and central India.

The NIA said that Babu induced Maoist sympathisers amongst the students of Delhi University, specifically Dalit and other students.

The NIA claimed that Babu planned party building and analysis of cities like Mumbai and Surat for a political, social, economic, religious profile to check out the potential for making inroads.

The NIA had taken over the probe from the Maharashtra Police on January 24.

The case pertains to inciting people and giving provocative speeches during the Elgar Parishad organised by the activists of the Kabir Kala Manch at Shaniwarwada in Maharashtra's Pune on December 31, 2017, which promoted enmity between various caste groups and led to violence resulting in loss of life and property and a statewide agitation in Maharashtra.

The Pune Police had filed a charge sheet and a supplementary charge sheet in this case on November 15, 2018 and February 21, 2019, respectively. After taking up the investigation, the anti-terror probe agency had arrested Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha on April 14 this year.