Harshali Potdar

Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide

Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote

Elgar Parishad programme

presents evidence before probe panel.An activist has presented proof of what she claims is’s complicity in the violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1 this year to the panel probing the incident. The commission, led by former Calcutta High Court chief justice JN Patel and state Chief Information Commissioner Sumit Mullick, resumed hearings in the matter in Mumbai on Monday.Harshali Potdar submitted evidence pertaining to three prominent points hinting at Bhide’s involvement in the riots. She submitted screenshots of Facebook posts by purported Bhide followers talking about January 1; three videos of Durga Daud, a march held in Bhima Koregaon by Bhide’s followers a few days prior to the violence; and messages circulated among Bhide’s followers to gather at the site on January 1, where the leader would address them.Bhide was named along withfor instigating the riots. However, the police did not find sufficient evidence against Bhide and Ekbote, and they were arrested and released on bail.Potdar’s name was also mentioned as an accused in one of the FIRs filed in connection with thein Pune on December 31, 2017; the FIR said Elgar Parishad sparked the next day’s violence.In the affidavit, Potdar said, “Sambhaji Bhide and his organisation, viz. Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan, are equally rather more involved in this crime directly. It is stated that activists from the said organisation under the command of Mr Bhide had gathered at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018. That one member of the organisation spread messages through Facebook that their activists should gather at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018 to observe said day as black day.“One of the members of Sambhaji Bhide’s organisation, Raosaheb Patil, threatened to kill the chief minister in his Facebook post on January 1, 2018… he was neither arrested or acted against,” she said, and submitted screenshots to support her claim.Elaborating on the gathering of Bhide followers known as Dharkaris, Potdar said, “The Dharkaris, while circulating messages for mobilisation from all over the state to Vadhu Budruk on January 1, 2018, had specified that Sambhaji Bhide would be present and would address the said muhim on that day.’“These Dharkaris of the Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan and followers of other Hindutva outfits posted these comments about their presence on the said locations of Bhima Koregaon, Vadhu Budruk and nearby places of violence,” Potdar said in her affidavit. She also submitted videos of the Dharkaris during the Durga Daud, in which the leader is seen flashing a sword.Secretary of the Commission V Palnitkar admitted that Potdar had submitted the the affidavit. He said she would be soon called as a witness.