Delhi Professor Arrested In Bhima Koregaon Case Over “Maoist Ideology”

New Delhi: A 54-year-old associate professor of Delhi University was arrested by the National Investigation Agency on Tuesday in connection with the probe into the 2018 violence in Maharashtra’s Koregaon Bhima.




Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil, a resident of Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, is an associate professor in the Department of English, a spokesperson of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said.

This is the 12th arrest in the case that has seen several prominent activists, scholars and lawyers jailed for over two years while they await trial.

The case relates to an event of December 31, 2017 in Pune which was followed by violence and arson in Maharashtra that left one person dead.




Investigators have alleged the activists at the Elgar Parishad meet had made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements, which it said triggered violence the next day.

The investigation also claimed to have uncovered a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During investigation, the NIA said, it was revealed that senior leaders of the CPI (Maoist), a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, were in contact with the organisers of the Elgar Parishad event as well as the accused arrested in the case to spread the Maoist and Naxal ideology and encourage unlawful activities.

The Pune Police filed a chargesheet and a supplementary charge sheet in the case on November 15, 2018 and February 21, 2019 respectively.

The NIA took up the investigation of the case on January 24 this year and arrested activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha on April 14, the official said.




During investigation, it was revealed that Hany Babu was propagating Naxal activities and Maoist ideology and was a “co-conspirator” with the other arrested accused, the NIA said.

He will be produced before a special NIA court in Mumbai on Wednesday and his officers will ask permission to question him in custody, the NIA said.