Elgar Parishad case: Ample material against him, offence very serious, court says, denying Gautam Navlakha bail

“The documents alleged to be seized from the possession of the applicant shows the nexus of the applicant with the case. (On) Perusal of the chargesheet, there is ample material against the applicant. Prima facie, the applicant seems to be connected with the alleged offence. The offence is very serious in nature…In view of seriousness of offence and prima facie material against him, he is not entitled for the grant of bail,” the judge observed while rejecting bail to Navlakha.

The case against Navlakha and other arrested accused pertains to the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. The NIA had alleged that the event was funded by Maoists. Navlakha was initially kept under house arrest, but was later sent to judicial custody and lodged at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai.

Representing Navlakha, advocates Harshwardhan Akolkar and Wahab Khan submitted that he is falsely implicated in the crime and he had no concern with the alleged offence levelled by the central agency. The lawyers said that it was not the prosecution’s case that the applicant was present at the spot of incident on the day concerned and there was nothing on record to connect the applicant with the “larger conspiracy”.

Navlakha argued that provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) were not applicable to him and an entire charge sheet contained no material that showed he had in any manner intended or supported any act which would disrupt sovereignty or territorial integrity of India. The lawyers further argued that Navlakha is “old aged” and is in prison for nearly two years and suffers from several ailments.

Akolkar said that Navlakha has no criminal antecedents and is ready to abide by the bail conditions to be imposed. The application also said as trial in the case is delayed, it would take a long time to conclude and therefore Navlakha be released on bail.

However, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Shetty, for NIA, opposed the plea and claimed that the probe has revealed that Navlakha is a member of banned terrorist organisation CPI (Maoist) and he was in possession of incriminating documents related to such a group, accessible exclusively to party members. Shetty said that Navlakha was actively involved in the activities of Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO) and used to receive group emails.

The central agency further alleged that the applicant was actively involved in fixing appointments and meetings between active urban cadres and underground leaders of CPI (Maoist) under the garb of a “fact finding mission”.

Shetty added that Navlakha had delivered speeches at different forums on many issues related to the Kashmir separatist movement and Maoist movement and supported the same. Therefore, he has nexus in the crime alleged and there is “ample material” against him to show his involvement in the same, the NIA said and sought dismissal of bail plea.

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