News Analysis India

Tag: Elgar Parishad case

  • Elgar Parishad case: Court seeks to know how defence got forensic report

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A special NIA court here hearing the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case has sought to know from a defence lawyer as to how he received a report of a digital forensics firm, which claimed that the evidence produced by the prosecution was planted after computer of one of the accused was hacked.

    The court sought this clarification on Thursday.

    The report of the firm, Arsenal Consulting, was addressed to the special court.

    However, the court said that it has not received it so far as.

    The legal team of activist Anand Teltumbde, arrested in the case, had recently submitted the report to the court while arguing for his bail.

    “On inquiry with the sheristedar (a court official), it is reported that the court has not received such a report (addressed to it),” it said.

    The record reveals that at no point of time, the agency namely Arsenal Consulting was called upon by this court to submit the report, the court said in its note that was made available on Friday.

    The court then asked that although it is yet to receive the copy of the report that is addressed to it, how did the defence lawyers get access to it.

    The court asked Teltumbde’s lawyer to clarify how he got the document.

    Meanwhile, special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty objected to the report being relied upon by the defence while seeking bail for Teltumbde.

    The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which submitted its reply on Thursday, said, “The authenticity of the report remains a question.

    It cannot be admitted at this stage. It has to be tested at the time of the trial.” The Arsenal report states that activist Rona Wilson’s laptop and thumb drive had been compromised for 22 months by the same attacker before it was seized by Pune police.

    It further claimed that the attacker had planted the alleged letters that incriminated accused Rona Wilson and others on the laptop using a malware which was not known to Wilson.

    In January this year, Teltumbde had filed a bail plea in the special court, claiming that no evidence was found against him and the prosecution theory that he was abetting others to wage a war against the government was all “humbug”.

    Opposing his bail, the probe agency has said it is “absolutely false” to say there isno evidence against the accused.

    Teltumbde and some other activists were initially booked by the Pune police after violence erupted near Koregaon-Bhima, on outskirts of Pune city, a day after the Elgar Parishad conclave was held in Pune The Pune police had alleged that inflammatory speeches and provocative statements made at the Elgar Parishad meet held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggered the violence at Koregaon-Bhima the next day.

    According to police, the event was “backed” by Maoists.

    The NIA later took over the probe into the case.

  • Stan Swamy had conspired with Maoists to overthrow government: Court

    The special judge said in his order that based on the material on record it seemed Swamy was a member of banned Maoist organisation.

  • Elgar Parishad case: Court denies bail to activist Stan Swamy

    By PTI
    MUMBAI:A special NIA court here on Monday rejected the bail plea filed by tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

    Additional sessions court judge Judge DE Kothalikar rejected bail pleas of 83-year-old Swamy on merits as well as well as on medical grounds.

    Swamy, a Jesuit priest and activist, was arrested from Ranchi in October, 2020, and has since been lodged at the Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai.

    As per his lawyers, Swamy is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and he has lost the ability to hear from both his ears.

    He also suffers from several other ailments.

    The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had opposed Swamy’s bail plea saying probe had revealed that Swamy was a staunch supporter of organisations such as ‘Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan’ and ‘People’s Union for Civil Liberties’, which were working as “fronts of the CPI (Maoist)”.

    Swamy’s lawyer Sharif Shaikh had argued that the NIA had failed to establish Swamy’s connection to the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case.

  • Bhima Koregaon case: SC asks NIA to file reply on Gautam Navlakha’s bail plea by March 19

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday asked NIA to file response by March 19 on the bail plea of activist Gautam Navlakha in the alleged Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case.

    A bench comprising justices U U Lalit and K M Joseph took note of the submission of Additional Solicitor General S V Raju that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) be granted time to file its response to Navlakha’s bail plea and fixed the case for hearing on March 22.

    The activist had moved the top court on February 19 against the Bombay High Court order of February 8 dismissing his bail plea.

    Navlakha has been seeking statutory bail under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on the ground that the NIA did not file the charge sheet within the stipulated 90-day period making him entitled for grant of default bail.

    The high court, however, had held that the 34 days of Navlakha’s house arrest cannot be computed as the time spent in jail for granting him statutory bail.

    The high court had said that “it sees no reason to interfere with a special court’s order which earlier rejected his bail plea”.

    According to police, some activists allegedly made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Elgar Parishad meet in Pune on December 31, 2017, which triggered violence at Koregaon Bhima in the district the next day.

    Police also alleged that the event was backed by some Maoist groups.

    The NIA is conducting a probe into the case.

    Navlakha had approached the high court last year, challenging the special NIA court’s order of July 12, 2020 that rejected his plea for statutory bail.

    On December 16 last year, the high court bench reserved its verdict on the plea filed by Navlakha, seeking statutory or default bail on grounds that he had been in custody for over 90 days, but the prosecution failed to file a charge sheet in the case within this period.

    The NIA had argued that his plea was not maintainable, and sought an extension to file the charge sheet.

    The special court had then accepted NIA’s plea seeking extension of 90 to 180 days to file the charge sheet against Navlakha and his co-accused, activist Anand Teltumbde.

    Navlakha’s counsel had told the high court that the NIA was granted the extension to file its charge sheet.

    Senior advocate Kapil Sibal had said Navlakha had already spent 93 days in custody, including 34 days of house arrest, and that the high court must count house arrest as a period of custody.

    While he was under house arrest, Navlakha’s personal liberties remained curtailed, Sibal had said.

    However, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, who appeared for the NIA, had argued that Navlakha”s house arrest could not be included in the time spent in the custody of police or NIA, or under judicial custody.

    Raju argued that the Pune police arrested Navlakha in August 2018, but had not taken him into custody.

    He had said the accused remained under house arrest, and the Delhi High Court quashed his arrest and remand order in October 2018.

    The FIR against him was re-registered in January 2020, and Navlakha surrendered before the NIA on April 14.

    He spent 11 days in the NIA’s custody till April 25, and since then he has been in judicial custody in the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.

    Raju had argued that if the court “looked from the other angle, it would see that if he (Navlakha) was arrested on August 28, 2018, he should have been enlarged on bail.

    ””He was a free man till April 2020. He was neither on bail nor in custody. There cannot be a gap in the custody and detention period,” Raju had said.

  • Varavara Rao discharged from hospital in Mumbai

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, has been discharged from Nanavati Hospital here, sources said.

    The 82-year-old activist, who was granted interim bail for six months on medical grounds by the Bombay High Court on February 22, was discharged from the private hospital late Saturday night, they said.

    Rao, arrested in 2018, was admitted to the medical facility in November last year due to ill-health.

    The HC had last month directed that he be released immediately on bail after being discharged from hospital.

    While granting him bail, the high court had asked Rao to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two solvent sureties of the like amount.

    Rao later requested the court that he be allowed to furnish cash surety as the process of submitting solvent sureties was taking time.

    The court last Monday allowed Rao to furnish a cash surety of Rs 50,000 and gave him time till April 5 to submit the two solvent sureties of the same amount.

    The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

    The HC while granting him bail imposed various conditions on his release, including a direction to remain in Mumbai, within the jurisdiction of the NIA court here.

    After the six-month period, Rao will have to either surrender before the trial court or approach the HC for extension of the bail period.

    The case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

    The police have claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.

  • Bombay HC allows Varavara Rao to furnish cash surety for release on bail in Elgar Parishad case

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday allowed ailing poet-activist Varavara Rao, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to furnish a temporary cash surety for release on bail until the process of submitting solvent sureties is completed.

    Rao (82) was last week granted interim bail on medical grounds for six months by the HC which had asked him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two solvent sureties of the like amount.

    Later, the activist, who is currently admitted in the Nanavati Hospital here since November last year, filed an application in the HC to allow him to furnish cash surety to seek urgent release as the process of submitting solvent sureties was taking time.

    A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale on Monday allowed Rao to furnish a cash surety of Rs 50,000 and gave him time till April 5 to submit the two solvent sureties of the same amount.

    The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

    On February 24, Rao filed the application seeking modification of the bail order and permissionto deposit temporary cash bonds before the NIA court here, instead of the solvent sureties.

    Rao’s counsel Anand Grover had said the procedure for obtaining sureties was time-taking.

    He had sought permission to deposit the cash bonds for a period of two months and complete the solvent sureties formalities in such period.

    Rao will be released from the hospital once the bail formalities are completed.

    The high court while granting him bail imposed several conditions on his release, including a direction to him to remain in the city, within the jurisdiction of the NIA court in Mumbai.

    After the six-month period, Rao will have to either surrender before the trial court or approach the HC for extension of the bail period.

    The case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

    The police have claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.

  • Conditions of Varavara Rao’s detention cruel, inhuman: Lawyer tells Bombay HC

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The conditions of poet Varavara Rao’s detention are “cruel, inhuman, and degrading”, senior lawyer Indira Jaising told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, and urged it to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution to release him from prison.

    Rao, an octogenarian poet-activist, is an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case and is lodged in Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai as an undertrial.

    However, he is currently admitted to the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai.

    Jaising is the counsel for Rao’s wife Hemlatha in a writ petition filed last year by the latter, alleging the breach of Rao’s fundamental right to life due to his continued incarceration without adequate medical facilities.

    Jaising told a bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale on Wednesday that Rao’s right to dignity and health were being breached due to his detention and that the court must exercise its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution to release him from prison.

    “I am submitting that there is violation of right to life and dignity. The conditions of his (Rao’s) detention are cruel, inhuman and degrading,” Jaising said.

    “The right to health and dignity is a faucet, a fundamental right under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,” she said.

    “The right to life and dignity is fundamental right under Article 21,” Jaising added.

    The court, however, said that such claims to fundamental rights were “general submissions”.

    “Considering his (Rao’s) age and health, you can argue specifically,” it said.

    During the same hearing earlier in the day, the bench also heard arguments by Rao’s counsel, senior advocate Anand Grover, on his bail plea on medical grounds.

    Grover reiterated that the Taloja prison hospital was inept to provide requisite medical care to the ailing poet.

    He suggested that Rao could be granted bail for a trial period of three months and in the meantime he could report to any authority as the court directed.

    Grover concluded his arguments on Rao’s medical bail plea on Wednesday, after which Jaising began her arguments.

    On Tuesday, the counsel for NIA, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and the state’s counsel Deepak Thakare had informed the court that Rao’s condition had improved and that as per the Nanavati Hospital authorities, he was fit to be discharged.

    The high court will continue hearing the arguments on the writ petition filed by Rao’s wife in Thursday.

    Rao has been in an out of the JJ hospital in the city and the Taloja prison hospital since his arrest in June 2018.

    On July 16 this year, he tested positive for coronavirus, after which he was shifted to the Nanavati hospital in the city.

    He was discharged from Nanavati following a final assessment report on July 30 and sent back to the Taloja prison.

    In November last year, he was admitted to Nanavati Hospital again following the intervention of a bench of Justice Shinde and Justice M S Karnik.

    Rao and some other Left-leaning activists were earlier arrested for alleged links with Maoists following the Elgar Parishad conclave in Maharashtra’s Pune district on December 31, 2017.