HC rejects pre-arrest bail pleas of Navlakha & Teltumbde

The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant anticipatory bail to civil rights activists

Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde in the Elgar Parishad- alleged Maoist links case.

Justice P D Naik, while rejecting their pre-arrest bail pleas, said: "prima facie evidence shows the complicity of

both the accused in the case". The court, however, extended the interim protection

from arrest granted to them for a period of four weeks so that they can approach the Supreme Court in appeal.

"On perusal of all the material on record, it can be seen that there is prima facie evidence showing the complicity of

applicants (Navlakha and Teltumbde) in the crime," Justice Naik said.

The court, after perusing letters allegedly exchanged between the accused persons, noted that Navlakha, Teltumbde

and the other accused persons like Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, and Sudha Bharadwaj had direct access and connections

with central committee members and leaders of CPI (Maoist). "It was revealed during the course of investigation

that Anand Teltumbde was recipient of funds from the banned terrorist organization," the court said.

Navlakha, Teltumbde and several other activists have been booked by the Pune Police for their alleged Maoist links

and several other charges following the violence at Koregaon Bhima village in Pune district on January 1, 2018.

According to Pune Police, "inflammatory" speeches and "provocative" statements made at the Elgar Parishad conclave

held in Pune on December 31, 2017, had triggered caste violence at Koregaon Bhima the next day. The police alleged that the

conclave was backed by Maoists. Teltumbde and Navlakha had approached the high court

seeking pre-arrest bail in November last year after a sessions court in Pune rejected their pleas.

In December last year, the high court had granted them interim protection from arrest pending disposal of their

anticipatory bail pleas. Although the Pune Police was investigating the case,

the Centre had last month transferred the probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)