Activist and scholar Anand Teltumbde on Tuesday surrendered to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) at Cumbala Hill in South Mumbai in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, his lawyer Mihir Desai said.
Teltumbde and several other civil liberties activists were booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for allegedly having Maoist links and conspiring to overthrow the government.
The activists were booked initially by the Pune police following the violence that erupted at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018. As per the police, the activists had made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Elgar Parishad meet held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which it said triggered violence the next day which marked the 200th year of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon.
The case was later transferred to NIA. Teltumbde and activist and co-accused Gautam Navlakha were given interim protection by the Bombay High Court while their pre-arrest bail pleas were being heard.
After HC rejected their applications, the duo approached the Supreme Court. On March 17, 2020, the apex court rejected their pleas and directed them to surrender within three weeks. On April 9, the SC granted the duo another week to surrender by way of last chance.
Meanwhile, Anand Teltumbde wrote an open letter before surrendering to the NIA. "I have been a simple person who has been earning his bread honestly and helping people to the extent possible with my knowledge through writings. I have an unblemished record of service for nearly five decades to this country in various roles in corporate world, as a teacher, as a civil rights activist and a public intellectual," he said.
He added, "An individual like me obviously cannot counter the spirited propaganda of the government and its subservient media. The details of the case are strewn across the Net and are enough for any person to see that it is a clumsy and criminal fabrication."
Apart from knowing that he has surrendered to the National Investigation Agency in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, here is all you need to know about Anand Teltumbde:
1. Anand Teltumbde was born in Rajur, a small town in Maharashtra, in a Dalit family.
2. He studied mechanical engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology and later did MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
3. Teltumbde has an honorary doctorate (D.Litt) from Karnataka State Open University and also has a PhD in cybernetic modelling.
4. He is married to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's granddaughter - Rama.
5. Teltumbde was a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and later became a senior professor at the Goa Institute of Management.
6. He has written extensively about the caste system in India and has advocated for Dalit rights. Teltumbde also writes columns for Economic and Political Weekly, Outlook and others.
(With PTI inputs)
