Mumbai: Right-wing leader Milind Ekbote, accused of instigating the Bhima-Koregaon violence in January 2018, refused to depose as a witness before the Judicial Commission on Friday. The founder of the Samasta Hindu Aghadi (SHA), Ekbote has blamed the 'changed political spectrum' in Maharashtra as the reason for not deposing before the commission.
The commission, comprising Justice (retired) J N Patel and former chief secretary Sumit Mullick had summoned Ekbote to depose before it so as to adduce evidence in the case. However, he filed an affidavit explaining why he thought he should not do so at this stage.
In his affidavit, Ekbote expressed the apprehension that the newly formed Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government may 'obliterate' the investigations in the case, only to protect the 'anti-national forces' booked for the violence.
“The organisers of Elgar Parishad, with the help of Leftist organisations, in order to help Naxal movements, have created ruckus in Bhima-Koregaon and elsewhere in Maharashtra,” Ekbote has said in his affidavit.
He has further accused human rights activists for cornering him for his 'alleged' hatred of the Dalits.
“These Leftists, pro-Naxals and anti-national forces have cornered me because of my accidental birth in the Brahmin community and my personal nationalist political philosophy and opposing any form of Marxism such as hardcore Naxal philosophy, political Communist philosophy or NGOs with socialist hues for providing support to anti-national Naxal movements in Urban India,” the affidavit reads.
Accordingly, Ekbote has claimed that with the changed political dispensation, the case might be hampered. “The recent political developments in the state have indicated that whatever the honest and impartial investigations carried out between 2017 and 2019 by the police, are likely to be obliterated and revisited, in order to ensure the safe passage for different hues of
Marxists spread all over the political and social spectrum,” his affidavit says.
“In the present scenario, I do not feel desirable to depose before the Commission at this stage, to protect my interest in the court of law and in the society at large. I am also of the sincere opinion that my case is likely to be hampered, particularly in view of the investigation pending and political spectrum has totally changed, which may go overboard to implicate me falsely,” Ekbote has claimed.
