Pune, Aug 29: A day after the arrest of five human rights activists in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima riots in Maharashtra, Pune Police on Wednesday said they have concrete evidence against all five accused. Pune Police said the arrested activists - Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Pereira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha - have links with the banned CPI (Maoist) and played a significant role in planning terror activities.

"Analysis of seized documents reveals the conspiracy hatched by the CPI (Maoist) party. Evidence points to the role of Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj in a conspiracy to destabilise the country," a senior official of Pune said in a press conference. "The activists arrested for suspected Maoist links have shown a strong intolerance to the political system," he added.

The Pune Police official also said some of the evidence collected suggests that there was a plan to target highest political functionaries. The arrested activists have links with banned outfits in Jammu and Kasmir, the official said. Earlier today, the Supreme Court directed that the accused activists should be kept under house arrest. Tuesday's arrest of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and poet-activist Varavara Rao triggered a massive outcry.

As in June, these arrests were made in connection with the ongoing investigations into the January 1 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima in the Pune district and a subsequent complaint lodged in the matter. Officials described Tuesday's operations as a 'follow-up' to similar action taken in April-June when the Pune police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The next day, on January 1, caste clashes erupted in Bhima-Koregaon which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar. (With agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2018 05:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).