State govt...

A senior government official aware of the developments said on the condition of anonymity that the order was issued following Thackeray’s remarks on the file.

“We are still of the opinion that the Centre should have taken us into confidence while handing over the probe to the NIA,” Deshmukh said on Thursday, indicating that the opposition to the move also stemmed from the manner in which it was announced. “We had clarified this in the Pune Sessions court at the last hearing. Our decision, however, has been overruled by the chief minister using his discretionary powers,” he added.

The home minister added that the government was considering the possibility of constituting a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case. “The home department is consulting the state advocate general on this issue,” he said.

However, a senior home department official, who asked not to be named, said an SIT cannot be set up without the CM’S approval.

The official added that Thackeray decided to intervene after consulting the state advocate general, Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, who was of the view that the Centre was legally empowered to hand over the case to the NIA.

Last month, Pune Police did not grant NIA officials access to the case papers saying they had no instructions from the state director general of police.

The case in question is about the controversy that erupted on New Year’s Day in 2018 on the banks of the Bhima river, where hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Dalits, had gathered to mark the anniversary of an 1818 victory of the British Army, manned primarily by Dalit soldiers, over the Peshwa, the then rulers who instituted oppressive caste practises. A group of unidentified men on bikes attacked the visitors and pelted stones, killing one person and injuring 40.

The police investigation initially pointed at far-right Hindu groups but then concentrated on an event held in Pune on December 31, 2017 called the Elgar Parishad. Police said the event was funded by Maoists, and that provocative speeches made at the gathering triggered the clashes. In June and August of 2018, police arrested nine prominent activists and raided the homes of many others in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities.

Two charge sheets were filed – first in November 2018 against several activists for their alleged Maoist links, and a supplementary charge sheet in February 2019. Those accused of helping Maoists include activists Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferriera, Vernon Gonsalves, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhavale. Maoist leaders including Ganpathy, Kishan Da alias Prashant Bose and Prakash alias Rituparn Goswami were also named by Pune Police in the case.

In January, soon after the MVA wrested power in the state from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Pawar alleged that Pune Police misused its powers to arrested writers and activists because they were opposed to the government and its policies. He also wrote to the CM, calling for the setting up of an SIT.

The Centre transferred the case to the NIA before the SIT could be formed.

According to a government official who asked not to be named, Deshmukh spoke to both Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday before briefing the media. “The NCP wanted the CM to change the government’s stand and oppose the NIA probe,” a senior NCP leader aware of the developments told HT, adding that the party leader told Deshmukh to make the NCP’S stand on the issue clear.

In an interview to his party mouthpiece Saamana last week, Thackeray said that he did not find the Centre’s decision wrong, but added that the Narendra Modi government should have taken the state’s view on the issue.

“Nobody denies the Centre’s right in this investigation. But, while exercising its right, the Centre should have taken the state into confidence or should have told us what was wrong in the investigation. Does the Centre not have confidence in the state’s investigative agencies? It leads to strained relations between Centre and State,” he said.

AGARTALA: A Tripura court on Thursday sentenced two persons to death for raping and killing a 15-year-old girl in a village in Gomati District in 2018.

“The crime committed by the two convicts have been proved in the court. Special district court judge AK Nath gave the verdict today. The two convicts are in Udaipur jail now,” said special public prosecutor Poltu Das.

Das said that the minor girl was forcefully taken by the duo to a jungle at Krishnkanta Para falling under Nutan Bazar Police Station, while she was going to school.

They raped her and then hit on her head with a branch of a tree and then put her head inside a pond to kill her before burying her body.

The incident took place on December 5 in 2018. Later, the body was recovered by the villagers.the convicts belonged to the victim’s village. The deceased’s brother lodged a case against the two persons. Police registered a case against them under relevant sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and Section 4 of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. Police submitted charge sheet in the court based on these sections. Statements of 32 witnesses were taken during the trial.