Elgar Parishad case: Dalit scholar Anand Teltumbde arrested

Mumbai, Feb 2 Dalit scholar Anand Teltumbde was Saturday arrested in Mumbai by the Pune Police in the Elgar Parishad case for his alleged Maoist links, officials said

Police confined Teltumbde, a professor at Goa Institute of Management, at the Mumbai airport early hours Saturday after his entry from Kerala

He was confined by the Mumbai Police, who later given him over to the Pune Police, an authority said

"Teltumbde was interrogated and later arrested by the Pune Police. He would be delivered in the court later in the day," said Shivaji Bodkhe, Joint Commissioner of Pune Police

His arrest comes a day after a special court in Pune rejected his anticipatory bail application

"Since his pre-capture bail plea was rejected by the court in Pune on Friday, we chose to capture him today," Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivaji Pawar, who is investigating the case, said

Teltumbde's lawyer Rohan Nahar, however, termed the capture illicit, saying the Supreme Court had given him protection from arrest till February 11

"His arrest is a contempt of the apex court order, and we will move a plea against it," he said

Senior advocate Indira Jaising took to Twitter to challenge the activist's capture

"Dr Anand Teltumbde captured at 330am at Mumbai air terminal by Pune Police in Gross infringement of SC order giving him security from capture till eleventh February , this is contempt of the order of the Supreme Court of India #ReleaseDrAnandTeltumbde immediately," she said

On Friday, Additional Sessions Judge Kishor Vadane had seen that an exploring officer has gathered adequate material "to demonstrate the inclusion of the present blamed (Teltumbde) in the supposed commission of the offence"

The prosecution had Thursday submitted an envelope in the Pune court containing "proof", claiming that it proves Teltumbde's involvement in Maoist activities

Teltumbde had filed the anticipatory (pre-arrest) bail application before the Pune court after the Supreme Court dismissed his request looking to subdue the FIR against him in the Elgar Parishad case

As indicated by the Pune Police, Maoists had bolstered the Elgar Parishad gathering held here on December 31, 2017, and the inflammatory speeches there led to violent clashes at the Koregaon Bhima war memorial the next day