Elgar Parishad case: 2 accused approach HC against NIA probe

MUMBAI: Human rights

lawyer Surendragadling and writer-activist Sudhirdhawale, arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, approached Bombay High Court on Friday challenging the transfer of the probe from Pune police to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The case, in which several human rights activists have been arrested for alleged Maoist links, was transferred from Pune police to NIA on January 24 this year.

Gadling and Dhawale were arrested in June 2018 and are

lodged at the Taloja jail near Mumbai.

The petition, filed through advocate S B Talekar, alleged the transfer of the probe was done by the Central government after BJP lost power in Maharashtra and was hence "politically motivated".

"The transfer order is arbitrary, discriminatory, unjust and violative of the fundamental rights of the accused persons in the case," the petition said. "The then Bjp-led state government with Hindutva agency used the incident of violence at Koregaonbhima in Pune in December 2017-January 2018 to target influential Dalit thinkers by showing the Elgar Parishad meeting as part of a Maoist movement," the petition said. The petition said "political expediency" cannot be a ground to invoke powers of NIA Act and transfer probe.

The petition further claimed the NIA Act, 2008 does not permit transfer of case after completion of investigation and commencement of trial, particularly when there are no compelling circumstances necessitating such a transfer. "The order transferring the investigation to NIA after completion of probe amounts to re-investigation, which is not permissible under law," the petition said, and claimed the transfer was bad in law as no permission was sought from the High Court to initiate re-investigation.

The petition claimed charge sheets have been filed in the case, but in November last year the newly-formed Mahavikasaghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra proposed to form a special investigation team to look into the case.

"The Central government immediately issued a notification directing NIA to take up the investigation in the Elgar Parishad-maoist links case without assigning any reason," the petition said.