HC restrains Pune cops from arresting Navlakha, Teltumbde, Swamy till Nov 21

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Pune police not to take any coercive action against activists Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde, till November 21.

A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre said, “We will wait and see what order the Supreme Court passes in the matters, pending before it. Till the next date of hearing, the interim relief shall continue,” the bench said.

The bench also extended similar relief to Father Stan Swamy, a human rights activist from Jharkhand. Even he is arraigned as an accused in this case and the Pune police had also raided his house in August. This comes after the bench was informed that a petition pertaining to the case is pending before the Supreme Court.

The bench was seized with the criminal writ petitions filed by Navlakha and Teltumbde seeking to quash the First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against them by the Pune police.

The duo were named in the FIR accusing them to have triggered the Bhima-Koregaon violence, earlier this year. The police has also accused them of having links with naxals and for conspiring to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The police also claimed, it has seized some incriminating letters, which reveals the supply and exchange of weapons.

Navlakha along with four others — Arun Ferreira, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested in August, after the police raided their homes and offices.

Subsequently, all these activists had approached the Supreme Court challenging the proceedings against them. As part of interim relief, the apex court had ordered house arrest of all these activists but later, in its judgment, refused to interfere with the probe against them.

After the verdict of the SC, the Delhi High Court released Navlakha from house arrest granting him four weeks time to move appropriate forum and seek remedies.

Accordingly, Navlakha along with Teltumbde moved Bombay HC, earlier this month claiming the police has no material to prosecute them.