New Delhi, September 5: The Maharashtra government has defended the raids carried out and the arrests that were made in the Bhima Koregaon violence case last month. The Devendra Fadnavis government has filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court, saying that there was enough evidence against those arrested. The affidavit says that they were involved in planning large-scale violence.

"This Court is dealing with persons against whom evidence has so far come on record showing they're active members of banned terrorist org Communist Party of India [Maoist]," the affidavit says.

"They are involved in not only planning and preparing for violence but were in the process of creating large-scale violence, destruction of property resulting into chaos in the society as per the agenda prepared by the Communist Party of India [Maoist]," the Maharashtra government has said in its affidavit.

The Supreme  Court had on Wednesday last week directed that all the five people arrested on Tuesday over Bhima Koregaon violence - Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavra Rao, Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira - will be kept under house arrest till September 5. The court will continue hearing in the case on Thursday, September 6.

The court had while pronouncing its order last week observed, "Dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed then the pressure cooker may burst."

On Monday, the Bombay High Court questioned the Maharashtra police for briefing the press last week on activists' arrest, despite the matter being sub-judice. The court expressed doubts on whether the case warranted an address to the media while it was still a subject of probe.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 05, 2018 12:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).