The prosecutor in the Elgaar Parishad case on Thursday opposed the bail pleas of six accused. District Government Pleader Ujjwala Pawar cited letters and a booklet to argue that there was a conspiracy to wage a war against the country, reported The Indian Express.

The Pune City Police submitted a copy of a booklet – “Maowadyanvirodhat Ladha Kashasathi Va Konasathi” – allegedly written by activist Sudhir Dhawale. They argued that its contents promoted “hatred and disaffection” towards the elected governments. The booklet was said to have been seized from another accused, Mahesh Raut, during searches conducted at his residence in 2018.

The special court in Pune will continue the hearing the bail pleas of Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson and P Varavara Rao on April 15. The bail applications of three more accused – Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves – are pending before the Bombay High Court.

The police have alleged that the accused organised the Elgaar Parishad event to mark the 200th year of the battle of Bhima Koregaon on December 31, 2017, a day before clashes erupted in the village between Dalits and Marathas. The police have alleged that the organisers of Elgaar Parishad have active links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The police have booked 23 people in connection with the case, and arrested nine activists from across India.

Pawar read out parts of the booklet, in which the author said “participating in the electoral process will not bring any solution”, “the need for guerrilla warfare” and “sashastra janandolan (armed public movement)”. Pawar told the court that the content of the book showed the “ideological inclination of the accused” (towards the Maoist movement) and thus it should be taken into consideration.

Pawar also submitted two letters allegedly recovered from activist Rona Wilson, and other documents from lawyer Surendra Gadling and others, reported The Times of India. She read out from two letters that Wilson purportedly wrote on April 18, 2017, and December 26, 2017, to underground CPI (Maoist) operative Prakash seeking help to secure the release of convicted Delhi University professor GN Saibaba. Pawar also cited a joint bank account of Wilson and Saibaba to conclude that the two are in touch with each other.

Pawar claimed the first letter revealed how Jawaharlal Nehru University student Mohammad Siraj was recruited and sent into the wilderness for training. The other letter referred to negotiations with Basanta, politburo member of the CPI (Maoist) in Nepal, for procurement of four lakh rounds of ammunition. The letter also mentioned that arrested activist P Varavara Rao was authorised to communicate with the arms suppliers, said Pawar.