Bhima Koregaon Case: Father Stan Swamy dies of cardiac arrest

Father Stan Swamy, accused in the Elgar Parishad case, died of cardiac arrest on Monday, 5 July, a day ahead of his bail hearing. After his health deteriorated, 84-year-old Swamy, an under-trial in the Bhima Koregaon case, was reportedly placed on ventilator support at Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital on Sunday, 4 July.His colleague Father Joseph Xavier and his lawyer had earlier told the media that he was critical.Stan Swamy also suffered from Parkinson’s disease.Last week, Stan Swamy had filed a fresh plea for bail in the High Court, challenging a section of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) that imposes stringent conditions for bail to an accused charged under the Act. 

The case relates to an event on December 31, 2017 in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune, which was followed by violence and arson that left one person dead. Investigators claim that activists at the event, an Elgar Parishad meet, had made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements that led to violence the next day. The investigation also claimed to have uncovered a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the investigation, the NIA said, it was revealed that senior leaders of the CPI (Maoist), a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, were in contact with the organisers of the Elgar Parishad event as well as the accused arrested in the case to spread Maoist and Naxal ideology and encourage unlawful activities.Several prominent activists, scholars and lawyers have been jailed for over two years while they await trial in the Koregaon Bhima case. Stan Swamy, who has several health issues, is the oldest to be arrested till now. Originally from Kerala, Stan Swamy has been working for tribals in Jharkhand for over five decades. He has been questioned several times by the NIA.