Dalit scholar Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case was arrested by Pune Police from Mumbai airport early on Saturday.
The arrest comes a day after the Pune Sessions Court rejected Teltumbde’s anticipatory bail application.
Additional Sessions Judge Kishor Vadane had observed that an investigating officer has collected sufficient material “to show the involvement of the present accused (Teltumbde) in the alleged commission of the offence”.
Anand Teltumbde, a professor at Goa Institute of Management was interrogated and later arrested, said Shivaji Bodkhe, Joint Commissioner of Pune Police.
According to police, Maoists had supported the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, and the inflammatory speeches there led to violent clashes at the Koregaon Bhima war memorial the next day.
The Maharashtra police had in August last year arrested the five activists –Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha — after an FIR was lodged against them following the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave.
A major raid was conducted across five states in which Anand Teltumbde’s home in Goa was also searched.
The authorities had confiscated belongings like phones, cameras, laptops, SIM cards and also seized documents and writings from the residence of the activists.
The Bhima-Koregaon violence had left one person dead and ended with Maharashtra shutdown on 3 January called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of BR Ambedkar.