Rights activists’ bail plea rejected

Police claimed they harboured links with Maoist terror groups in Koregaon-Bhima case

ASpecial Court here yesterday rejected the bail pleas by three human rights and civil liberties activists, accused of alleged involvement in the Elgaar Parishad and the subsequent KoregaonBhima caste riots of January 1.

The Special Judge of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Court, K.D. Vadane, passed a common order declining the bail applications of Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon S. Gonsalves and Arun T. Ferreira in the case filed by the Vishramgbaug police station here.

The three were under house arrest as per an earlier Supreme Court order, but now they may be taken into police custody for further interrogation.

During the investigations into the Koregaon-Bhima riots, the Pune Police had raided and arrested five accused including Bharadwaj, Gonsalves, Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha (now released) and P. Varavara Rao (currently in Hyderabad).

Earlier in June, the Pune Police had nabbed activists Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut and Rana Jacob in the Koregaon-Bhima case.

Besides the Koregaon-Bhima violence, the police claimed that they harboured links with Maoist terror groups, were allegedly planning to carry out high-level political assassinations in a Rajiv Gandhi-style operation and incite disturbances in the country to topple the government. house arrest in