Elgaar Parishad case: Bombay HC issues notice to NIA in Gautam Navlakha’s fresh appeal against rejection of bail plea

Following this, the special court passed a reasoned order prompting Navlakha to approach the high court again through a plea filed on April 18. On April 20, Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, a senior judge presiding over a division bench, recused herself from hearing the plea.

Navlakha, who was arrested on April 14, 2020, has been incarcerated since then. Since November, he has been under house arrest in Navi Mumbai.

On March 2, a division bench led by Justice Ajey S Gadkari of the high court disposed of Navlakha’s earlier appeal seeking a “reasoned order” from the trial court. The high court, while remanding the bail plea back to the special court, set aside the September 5, 2022 order of the special court and asked the special judge to restore Navlakha’s bail application and decide it within four weeks.

Special NIA Judge Rajesh Katariya, while rejecting Navlakha’s bail plea on April 6, had said there was prima facie evidence of a nexus between him and Syed Gulam Nabi Fai, who was convicted by a US court in 2012 for links with Pakistani spy agency ISI. The court said there are reasonable grounds for believing the accusations against Navlakha, including that he is a member of the banned organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist).

In his fresh appeal filed before the high court through advocates Yug Mohit Chaudhry and Shifa Khan, Navlakha claimed the special judge had erred in his reasoning to reject the plea and said the observation of him being a member of the banned terrorist group was wrong and uncalled for. The lawyers sought that the order be quashed and set aside and urged the court to release Navlakha on bail.

On Monday, a division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and S G Dige issued notices in the appeal. The high court will hear Navlakha’s fresh appeal on June 28.