Mumbai, Mar 15: Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote, prime accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence, was on Thursday remanded to police custody by the Pune District and Sessions court till March 19.

Ekbote, who heads the Samasta Hindu Aghadi, was arrested from Pune rural region after the court cancelled his interim relief.

The court order came after the public prosecutor claimed the police has incrementing evidence proving his involvement in the riots which broke out between two prominent castes on January 1.

Ekbote, 61, along with 85-year-old socio-political leader Sambhaji Bhide, was named in the FIR filed by the police in Bhima-Koregaon violence.

The investigators are reportedly scanning the cell phone of Ekbote to determine his links with the elements who printed hundreds of casteist pamphlets in Bhima-Koregaon, ahead of the convention to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle where an indigenous unit of the British Army had triumphed over a Peshwa regime in the region.

The Opposition has accused the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in the state of going "soft" on Bhide, due to his alleged links with the ruling party. The Maharashtra government had reportedly recommended a Padma award for Bhide in 2015.

The riots in Bhima-Koregaon on New Year's Day was followed by calls of vandalism and bandh by caste groups in adjoining parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai.

In the bandh called by caste groups in Mumbai on January 3, public properties worth Rs 88 lakh were damaged, a police report said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2018 05:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).