Court to hear Navlakha’s bail plea tomorrow

PUNE: Activist Gautam Navlakha, accused of Maoist links in connection with the Elgar Parishad caste violence case, on Tuesday approached the Pune sessions court for anticipatory bail.

The court will hear his plea on November 7.

The Bombay High Court had on Monday asked Navlakha to approach the sessions court here for anticipatory bail.

Navlakha’s plea for anticipatory bail came up for hearing on Monday before a single bench of Justice P D Naik, who dismissed it and asked the Delhi-based activist to first approach the sessions court in Pune for relief.

Navlakha had filed the application in the high court which had, in September, declined to quash a police case lodged against him in January last year, after which he had moved the Supreme

Court. The apex court had granted him interim protection from arrest and said he could seek anticipatory bail from the court concerned.

According to the police, “inflammatory” speeches and “provocative” statements at the Elgar Parishad conclave held on December 31, 2017, had triggered violence at Koregaon Bhima on 1st January, 2018.

The police have alleged that the event, held at a fort, was backed by people with Maoist links.

Navlakha and the other accused were booked under the relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Besides Navlakha, eight others, including Telugu poet Varavara Rao and Left-wing activists Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj, are accused in the case.