Pune: District government pleader Ujjwala Pawar told a special UAPA court here on Sunday that the prosecution has sought the state government’s sanction to prosecute activist-writer-poet P Varavara Rao and other accused in the Elgar Parishad case on charges of waging war against India, sedition and “statements conducing to public mischief”.“We have added these three new charges under Sections 121, 124-A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code in the FIR on October 30,” investigating officer ACP Shivaji Pawar told TOI. “We have submitted a proposal relating to the new Sections to the additional chief secretary (home) for a sanction,” he said.Special judge K D Vadane ordered Rao’s custodial remand till November 26 after the Pune police produced him amid tight security before the court on Sunday afternoon. The police had sought his remand for 14 days.The Pune police took Rao (78) back into their custody from his Hyderabad residence on Saturday night after the term of his house arrest ended on November 15 and the Hyderabad high court on November 16 dismissed a couple of his pleas seeking quashing of a Hyderabad magistrate’s transit remand, enabling the police to produce him before Pune court, and quashing of the FIR against him.The police had earlier arrested Rao and four other activists on August 28 for their alleged links with the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit which the police claim supported and funded the Elgar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017 as part of a larger Maoist conspiracy to create social unrest and overthrow constitutionally elected governments. It is the police’s case that alleged inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Parishad contributed to the caste clashes at Koregaon Bhima near Pune on January 1.On August 29, the police produced Rao along with activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves before the Pune court for custodial remand. The court then informed the trio that they were being placed under house arrest as per the Supreme Court’s directives issued the same day. Following the Supreme Court’s judgment on September 28 ruling out transfer of probe to an SIT, Rao had moved the Hyderabad high court for relief. He was taken back into custody after he exhausted the remedy before the high court.Arguing for his custodial remand on Sunday, prosecutor Pawar submitted that Rao is one of the main conspirators in the case and was authorized by the banned CPI (Maoist) leadership to select and procure arms and ammunition from suppliers in Nepal and Manipur. “Investigation has revealed that Rao and others hatched a criminal conspiracy for waging a war against the country and inciting students for propagating the Maoist agenda,” she submitted.Pawar argued that based on the seized e-mail communication and cloned copies of letters and documents retrieved from the electronic devices of other accused, the police wanted to question Rao and confront him with the incriminating evidence. The police also wanted to question him over the sources of funds, social networking, bank transactions and other critical details, she added.Rao’s counsel Rohan Nahar challenged the legality of the veteran activist’s “re-arrest” and cited provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as some rulings by the Supreme Court to argue that the arrest was not in accordance with the law. He argued that Rao’s custodial interrogation was not necessary as he was arrested on the basis of evidence/statements given by other accused and the police have already seized the documents at the time of search and seizure at his house on August 28.Nahar questioned what probe the police had done in respect of the convenors and organisers of the Elgar Parishad. He also highlighted the contrasting findings in the chargesheet filed by the Pune rural police in relation to the Koregaon Bhima violence and the chargesheet filed by the Pune city police in relation to the Elgar Parishad and argued that Rao was being made a scapegoat in the Parishad case.Was arrested without warrant: Rao tells courtActivist-writer-poet P Varavara Rao complained to the special court that he was arrested “without a proper warrant” and the manner in which the police took him back in custody was legally questionable.Rao made the oral statement when special judge K D Vadane asked if the former had any complaint of ill-treatment against the police, before his remand proceeding could commence.Rao said, “I had filed three petitions in the Hyderabad high court for quashing the transit remand and FIR against me after the Supreme Court (SC) on September 28 placed me under home arrest. The high court continued my house arrest for three more weeks and directed me to seek bail from the district and sessions court in Pune. The order of house arrest ended on November 15 and the Pune police arrested me on November 17.”“The transit warrant issued for seeking my custody had become dead and no fresh transit warrant was obtained for arresting me and bringing me to Pune for conducting investigations,” he added.

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