Bhima-Koregaon case: Gautam Navlakha gets bail after 44 months in custody
Navlakha was arrested along with the other accused and charged by the Pune Police and later by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for plotting to overthrow the government and inciting caste riots at the Bhima Koregaon Memorial, near Pune, on 1 January. In 2018, one youth was killed and political unrest erupted in the state.
Mumbai: In a landmark move, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to activist-journalist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case linked to alleged Maoist connections. A division bench comprising Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Shivkumar S. Dige granted bail to Navlakha but stayed the order for three weeks, according to a report by news agency IANS.
Navlakha has been in continuous custody since 2020
Arrested on April 14, 2020, 73-year-old Navlakha has been continuously in prison and, following a Supreme Court order, will be under house arrest from November 2022 due to his old age and health problems.
He becomes the seventh suspect – after Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira – to have bail extended after spending nearly 44 months in custody.
Navlakha was arrested along with the other accused and charged by the Pune Police and later by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for plotting to overthrow the government and inciting caste riots at the Bhima Koregaon Memorial, near Pune, on 1 January. 2018, which left one youth dead and sparked political unrest in the state.
A former office-bearer of the PUDR, he was also accused of Maoist links, promoting the agenda of the banned CPI (Maoist), possession of incriminating documents, supporting separatists in Kashmir and other crimes. His previous bail applications were rejected by the Special Party. NIA court.
The Patiala House Court of Delhi has allowed or permitted a special cell of Delhi Police to question Gautam Navlakha in connection with the UAPA case registered against News Portal NewsClick following allegations that it received huge money for pro-China propaganda.
Court allows Delhi Police to question Gautam Navlakha in UAPA case
Delhi Police have been allowed to interrogate Gautam Navlakha at his home in Navi Mumbai, where he was under house arrest following the Supreme Court’s orders in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Recently, Newsclick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty were arrested by Delhi Police in a case filed under the anti-terror law UAPA. The Special Cell of Delhi Police, in its FIR against news web portal NewsClick’s founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha, stated that People’s Dispatch Portal, owned and maintained by M/S PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt. Ltd., has been used to deliberately spread false stories through paid news in lieu of millions of rupees of illegally channeled foreign funds, as part of a conspiracy.
(With input from agencies)