NIA opposes plea by three Elgar Parishad accused to review order denying them bail

Probe agency says poet Varavara Rao and two activists are seeking default bail under the guise of the review

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday urged the Bombay High Court to dismiss a petition filed by poet Varavara Rao and two other activists, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, seeking a review of an earlier order of the HC that refused to grant them default bail. The NIA said the accused were seeking the same prayer of default bail under the guise of a review.

The probe agency filed its affidavit in response to a review petition filed by the three activists—Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves—challenging a previous order of the high court that refused to grant them default bail in the case. While Rao is currently out on medical bail, the other two activists are lodged in jail. The NIA said through the petition, the accused are seeking to alter the observation made by the HC after verification of record and hearing of the case.

“The applicants ought to have approached the appellate court in appeal instead of this court by introducing fresh arguments and seeking default bail which has been already decided by this court as unsustainable,” the NIA said. The three have challenged an order of December 1, 2021, passed by the bench that granted default bail to lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, a co-accused in the case, but denied relief to them.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered 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 Maharashtra city's outskirts. The Pune Police had said the conclave was backed by Maoists.

1 Dec
Day in 2021 when HC gave bail to Sudha Bharadwaj

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