Academician Anand Teltumbde, who is being investigated by the Pune City Police for his alleged links with the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation, on Thursday appeared before the investigating officer and faced questioning for seven-and-a-half hours. Advertising Teltumbde, a professor at the Goa Institute of Management, had been arrested by Pune Police on the morning of February 2 from Mumbai, but that arrest was ruled ‘illegal’ by a city court, since a four-week protection-from-arrest, granted to him by the Supreme Court in January, was not over at that time. Teltumbde had subsequently approached the Bombay High Court seeking anticipatory bail. The High Court, on Monday, had asked the Pune Police not to arrest him till February 22, but also directed Teltumbde to cooperate with the investigators till his plea was finally decided. Specifically, the court asked him to present himself before the investigating officer on February 14 and February 18. It was in compliance with that direction that Teltumbde appeared before Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivaji Pawar on Thursday. He reported at Pawar’s office at 10 am, accompanied by his wife, daughter and his lawyer, who waited outside as he went in for questioning. His questioning went on till 2 pm, when he came out for his lunch. The questioning resumed an hour later and went on till 5.30 in the evening. While Teltumbde refused to speak to the media after his questioning, his lawyers said that the police had mainly asked him about the five letters that they claim to have recovered from other co-accused in the case. The police claim that references to ‘Anand T’ or ‘Com Anand’ in these letters alluded to Teltumbde. According to the lawyers, Teltumbde was also questioned about the articles written about him in various publications and his political beliefs. The lawyers claimed that the line of questioning was such that made it apparent that the police were attempting to link Teltumbde to the Maoists. Police sources said Teltumbde has been asked to come again for questioning on February 19. “Though the High Court, in its directives, had suggested February 18 as the second date for questioning, the investigating officer has to appear in a court on that day, and would not be available. Teltumbde, thus, has been asked to come again on February 19,” a police officer said. Teltumbde’s application for anticipatory bail will come up for hearing again at the Bombay High Court on February 22. Advertising Teltumbde is among the 22 accused who have been booked by Pune Police in an FIR which had alleged that there was involvement of banned Naxalite groups in the organisation of Elgaar Parishad, an evening conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. The police claim that speeches made at the Elgaar Parishad had provoked violence in and around Pune the next day, when lakhs of people had gathered in the area for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon.

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