<p class="title">The Maharashtra Police withdrew old rioting cases against right-wing leader Sambhaji Bhide, six months before the violence in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune, response to an RTI query has revealed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The cases were filed against Bhide in 2008 and 2009 in Sangli in western Maharashtra, it said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">According to the RTI response, six cases against Bhide and his organisation were filed following two protests---one against Bollywood movie 'Jodha Akbar' in 2008 and another against an artist's depiction of the assassination of Shivaji in 2009. The protesters indulged in rioting, stone-pelting and burning of several tyres, it said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A senior police official, however, said Monday the charges against the 85-year-old in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case have not been dropped.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Bhide, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist who heads Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, is an accused in the January 1 Bhima-Koregaon caste violence case.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The cases against Bhide that were withdrawn were old cases in Sangli and have nothing to do with the Koregaon-Bhima violence," Superintendent of Pune (rural) police Sandip Patil said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The investigation in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case, in which Bhide and (Hindu Ekta Aghadi leader) Milind Ekbote are accused, is in progress," the IPS officer said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Patil said Pune police had in August arrested five activists while probing an alleged Maoist link to a meeting of the Elgaar Parishad in Pune on the eve of the January 1 violence in Koregaon-Bhima.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We are waiting for the development in that case, that is why (filing of) charge sheet in our (Koregaon-Bhima) case is pending," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">PTI SP SPK VT SRY</p>
<p class="title">The Maharashtra Police withdrew old rioting cases against right-wing leader Sambhaji Bhide, six months before the violence in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune, response to an RTI query has revealed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The cases were filed against Bhide in 2008 and 2009 in Sangli in western Maharashtra, it said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">According to the RTI response, six cases against Bhide and his organisation were filed following two protests---one against Bollywood movie 'Jodha Akbar' in 2008 and another against an artist's depiction of the assassination of Shivaji in 2009. The protesters indulged in rioting, stone-pelting and burning of several tyres, it said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A senior police official, however, said Monday the charges against the 85-year-old in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case have not been dropped.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Bhide, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist who heads Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, is an accused in the January 1 Bhima-Koregaon caste violence case.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The cases against Bhide that were withdrawn were old cases in Sangli and have nothing to do with the Koregaon-Bhima violence," Superintendent of Pune (rural) police Sandip Patil said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The investigation in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case, in which Bhide and (Hindu Ekta Aghadi leader) Milind Ekbote are accused, is in progress," the IPS officer said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Patil said Pune police had in August arrested five activists while probing an alleged Maoist link to a meeting of the Elgaar Parishad in Pune on the eve of the January 1 violence in Koregaon-Bhima.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We are waiting for the development in that case, that is why (filing of) charge sheet in our (Koregaon-Bhima) case is pending," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">PTI SP SPK VT SRY</p>