Bhima Koregaon Violence: Prime accused Milind Ekbote grilled for three hours by Pune rural police

Right wing activist Milind Ekbote, one of the prime accused in allegedly instigating violence between two communities at Bhima Koregaon on January 1 was on Friday grilled by senior police officers from Pune rural police for over three hours.

On Friday afternoon, Ekbote along with some of his supporters reached Shikrapur police station where case under SC/ST prevention of atrocities Act and also under section 307 for attempted murder, 147 and 148 for rioting under Indian Penal Code (IPC). This is for the first time since the case has been registered against him that Ekbote has been questioned by the Pune rural police.

The questioning went on over three hours. "The Supreme Court has directed us to submit a report before the next hearing, that is on March 14. Since Ekbote has interim protection from arrest, we had summoned him for questioning purpose. We questioned him for nearly three and half hours," additional superintendent of police, Sandip Pakhale told DNA.

Pakhale also stated that Ekbote will be questioned in coming days also. "Since Ekbote has got the interim protection, if we arrest him, we will immediately have to release him on bail. We want to protect our right to arrest him till the Supreme Court's directives. Therefore, in the meantime if require, we will again question him," he added.

After his anticipatory bail plea was rejected in local courts and the Bombay High Court, Ekbote had approached the Supreme Court where he has been granted interim relief from arrest till March 14. The Supreme Court had also pulled up the Maharashtra Government for not making enough efforts to arrest Ekbote. On the backdrop of Supreme Court reprimanding the state government, the Pune rural police questioned Ekbote.

The violence on the first day of 2018 had claimed one life. Following the incidents, Dalit organisations had called for a Maharashtra bandh, which also witnessed several incidents of stone pelting in several parts of the state, including Mumbai. Following the violence, police registered a case against Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide in connection with the violence.