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Bhima Koregaon: A chronicle of police raids foretold

Bhima Koregaon: A chronicle of police raids foretold

Live Mint / by Ajaz Ashraf

In this excerpt from his new book ‘Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste’, Ajaz Ashraf recounts the moments that changed the lives of three activists
We tend to recall vividly the moment life changes tack. And so Minal will never forget that on 17 April, at 6.30 am, she left her house at Misal Layout, in Nagpur, for a walk in nearby Dayanand Park with her friends. She will remember that her children were still asleep and her husband, Surendra Gadling, the Nagpur-based lawyer, was in the toilet. She will remember that a little after the group of friends entered the park, the phone of one rang.
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Also read:
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)

▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality
Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
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▪ The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India

Author: Alpa Shah
Publishing Date: March 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Pages: 672
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▪ “Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein”

By Family Members and friends of BK16
Edition: June 2021
Language: Hindi
Pages: 69
Access a PDF copy of the book here (15MB)

Koregaon Bhima violence: Elgaar Parishad activist questioned about Mohsin Shaikh murder case

Koregaon Bhima violence: Elgaar Parishad activist questioned about Mohsin Shaikh murder case


● Read booklet: Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein (69 pages)

Elgaar Parishad activist questioned about Mohsin Shaikh murder case

09/11/2023

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Replying to advocate Hiray, Harshali Potdar said she was aware that the accused in the Shaikh murder case were acquitted. When Hiray asked whether she made any attempt to appeal against the judgment, Potdar said, “No”.
While cross-examining activist Harshali Potdar before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray on Thursday quizzed her about the 2014 Mohsin Shaikh murder case.
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Sambhaji Bhide: The BJP’s pet rabble-rouser in Maharashtra

30/09/2023

National Herald / by Sujata Anandan

Meet Manohar Kulkarni, alias Sambhaji Bhide, aka Guruji, who the BJP is banking on to deliver the Maratha vote in Maharashtra
After lying low for almost three years while Uddhav Thackeray was chief minister of Maharashtra, it is no coincidence that Manohar Kulkarni aka Sambhaji Bhide is back to stirring the communal pot with BJP-leaning Eknath Shinde in the driver’s seat.
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Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
● Ekbote instigated Koregaon Bhima violence, Elgaar Parishad organiser tells panel (The Indian Express / Sep 2021)
● India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)
● What is the Elgar Parishad and who Oganised It? (SabrangIndia / Sep 2018)

Elgaar activist Harshali Potdar questioned on historical references of battle of Koregaon

Elgaar activist Harshali Potdar questioned on historical references of battle of Koregaon

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

A day before the violence, Elgaar Parishad had held a conclave at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima.
Activist Harshali Potdar, who is among the organisers of the Elgaar Parishad, was questioned Sunday on the history of battle of Koregaon Bhima of January 1, 1818, during her cross examination before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry.
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Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 27, 2022)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
● The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)
● Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 30, 2018)

Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets another extension / Elgaar Parishad organiser questioned on her TISS research

Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets another extension / Elgaar Parishad organiser questioned on her TISS research

Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets another extension till December 31

25/06/2022

Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The commission was initially given four months to submit its report, but its tenure had to be repeatedly extended to allow it to complete its work.
Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry. An order to this effect has been issued by the home department on June 20. As per this order, the commission has been given an extension of six months till December 31, 2022.
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Elgaar Parishad organiser questioned on her TISS research related to Maoist movement

23/06/2022

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

During cross examination, Harshali Potdar claimed that she interacted with villagers, media persons, police and government officers, contractors and social activists in the Gadchiroli region for the purpose of her research.
The cross-examination of a witness, Harshali Potdar, who is among the organisers of the ‘Elgaar Parishad’ held in Pune on December 31, 2017, continued before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday. Potdar is an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and an activist of the Republican Panthers Jatiantachi Chalwal, often referred to as RP.
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Elgar Parishad organiser questioned about her research on Maoist movement

23/06/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Pune Police had claimed that the 16 persons arrested in the case were conspiring with CPI (Maoist) members to overthrow the Narendra Modi government.
A judicial commission investigating the Bhima Koregaon violence case on Wednesday questioned Harshali Potdar, one of the organisers of the Elgar Parishad event in Pune held in December 2017, about her research on the Maoist movement, The Indian Express reported.
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Joint commissioner of police Nangre Patil, DIG, CBI Mohd Suvez Haque depose at Koregaon Bhima Inquiry commission

23/06/2022

The Times of India / by Swati Deshpande

Joint commissioner of police (Law and Order) Vishwas Nangre Patil, 48, and Mohd Suvez Haque, DIG, CBI, Mumbai– former superintendent of Police, Pune (rural)–, deposed on Thursday before the Koregaon Bhima commission of Inquiry
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Witness Accuses Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote Of Instigating Bhima Koregaon Riots

Witness Accuses Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote Of Instigating Bhima Koregaon Riots

Witness Before Probe Panel Accuses Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote Of Instigating Bhima Koregaon Riots

01/10/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Pune police “took away” research papers and evidence that revealed right-wing extremist leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote instigated and initiated the riots at Bhima Koregaon(BK) in Pune, on January 1, 2018, an anti-caste activist alleged before an inquiry panel, on Wednesday.
Harshali Potdar (33) said she managed to re-collect a chunk of the lost evidence after the Pune police searched her office along with the homes of other activists in April 2018. However, core material against the real culprits of the violence is still unavailable.
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Samabhji Bhide, Milind Ekbote instigated Bhima Koregaon riots: Accused event organiser tells Inquiry Commission

30/09/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The accused in Bhima Koregaon case of 2018, Harshali Potdar, informed the Commission that she apprehended danger to her life for deposing the truth against Bhide and Ekbote in the Commission.
Harshali Potdar, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018 for her alleged links with banned organisation CPI -Maoist stated before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry that the violence was instigated by Samabhji Bhide, former RSS worker and Milind Ekbote, former BJP corporator.
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Ekbote instigated Koregaon Bhima violence, Elgaar Parishad organiser tells panel

20/09/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Advocate Ashish Satpute, the lawyer representing the commission, started recording her examination in chief on Wednesday.
Harshali Potdar (33), who was named as an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case over her alleged links with the banned CPI-Maoist, deposed as a witness before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday.
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Also Read: Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan, Dec 2020)

Mumbai Police ‘Arrests’ Harshali Potdar for Sharing a Facebook Post, Releases Her in Few Hours

Mumbai Police ‘Arrests’ Harshali Potdar for Sharing a Facebook Post, Releases Her in Few Hours

Mumbai Police ‘Arrests’ Activist for Sharing a Facebook Post, Releases Her in Few Hours

12/01/2021

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Harshali Potdar, a rights activist, is also named as a prime accused in the ongoing Elgar Parishad investigation.
A week after a Mumbai sessions court rejected a pre-arrest plea filed by rights activist Harshali Potdar, the MRA police on Monday, January 11, picked her up from a café in South Mumbai only to release her after five hours.
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Activist Harshali Potdar denied anticipatory bail

07/01/2021

The Free Press Journal / by Bhavna Uchil

A sessions court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail application of activist Harshali Potdar, one of the organisers of the Elgaar Parishad conclave, in a case registered against her in MRA Marg Police Station for sharing an allegedly communal social media post.
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The Nava Peshwai Terror against the Dalits and State Repression

The Nava Peshwai Terror against the Dalits and State Repression

Statement by Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS)

WSS condemns the wave of state repression following the peaceful commemoration of the Ambedkarite community on the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon. The most recent wave of repression is a set of raids without a warrant conducted simultaneously at 6 am on 17 April, 2018, upon the homes of Kabir Kala Manch activists Rupali Jadhav, Jyoti Jagtap, Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe and Dhawala Dhengle in Pune; Republican Panther activists Sudhir Dhavale and Harshali Potdar in Mumbai; and Nagpur-based lawyer Surendra Gadling and Delhi-based CRPP activist Rona Wilson.
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