JOIN USKoregaon-Bhima case: Prof Teltumbde surrenders before NIA
Dalit scholar-activist Prof Anand Teltumbde on Tuesday surrendered before National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Koregaon Bhima caste riots case.
The surrender by Prof Teltumbde came on the day of 129th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of India's Constitution.
The NIA, that has arrested nine human rights activists and civil rights defenders, earlier, is probing the links of Prof Teltumbde with Maoists.
Among other things, the probe includes an investigation of a CPI (Maoist) plot to overthrow the elected government in India and assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi like the way Rajiv Gandhi was killed.
Prof Teltumbde is the brother-in-law of three-time former MP and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Ambedkar.
Prof Teltumble's younger brother Milind Teltumbde, who is Secretary of the Maharashtra State Committee (MSC) of CPI (Maoist), and is underground for decades now by and wanted by police forces of various Naxal-affected states.
The surrender or arrest of Prof Teltumbde was imminent after he ran out of all options form the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court.
Prof Teltumbde drove to the NIA office at Cumbala Hill and surrendered before authorities. His wife, Rama and Prakash Ambedkar accompanied him.
"Keeping with the directive of the Supreme Court, Prof Teltumbde surrendered before NIA," his lawyer Mihir Desai said.
The academician has been booked under UAPA.
Prof Teltumbde had earned a mechanical engineering degree from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and an honorary doctorate (D.Litt) from Karnataka State Open University. He also has a PhD in cybernetic modelling.
Prof Teltumbde was a senior executive at Bharat Petroleum and managing director of Petronet India Limited before becoming an academic.
He was a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and later became a senior professor at the Goa Institute of Management.