NIA seeks recall of SC order on Navlakha’s house arrest
BHIMA KOREGAON CASE
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought the recall of a Supreme Court order directing activist Gautam Navlakha, 70, to be placed under house arrest, accusing him of suppressing material facts about the building being a public library registered in the name of a political party where ensuring the safety and security of the accused is “inconceivable”.
The agency has also sought the recall of a preceding September 29 order directing his medical examination at Jaslok hospital on grounds of bias. The application was mentioned by solicitor general Tushar Mehta on Thursday before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, which directed the same to be taken up along with another application filed by Navlakha by a bench headed by justice KM Joseph. The order directing house arrest was passed on November 10 by a bench of justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy. Since Justice Joseph was sitting in a Constitution bench, the application was mentioned before a bench led by the CJI.
The NIA said that at the time of passing the house arrest order, Navlakha’s lawyers gave an impression that the said premises situated at Belapur in Navi Mumbai was a residential premises.
However, on an inspection carried out by the NIA it was found to be an office-cum-library registered in the name of the Communist Party and named Comrade BT Randive Smruti Trust, Sector 29, Agroli Village, Konkan Bhawan, Belapur in Navi Mumbai.
Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan appearing for Navlakha also sought an urgent listing of an application challenging an order passed by a special NIA court on Wednesday refusing to allow Navlakha to be moved to house arrest following the objections raised by the agency.
The special NIA court ordered, “Since there is a strong objection on the part of the prosecution against keeping the accused in the premises on account of safety and security, it would not be proper to keep the accused... in the said premises.”
Ramakrishnan said that “frivolous” objections are being raised by the NIA and informed the court that in compliance of the November 10 order, Navlakha had already deposited ₹2.40 lakh with the Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner as costs towards police escorts and security charges. He requested for his immediate shifting from jail as he had also installed CCTV cameras in the building.
The agency also sought the recall of the court’s September 29 order directing Navlakha’s medical examination at Jaslok hospital. The NIA said the medical report suffered from “personal bias” as Navlakha’s brother-in-law is a senior doctor at Jaslok, a fact he did not disclose to the court while preferring to be examined there. Navlakha was arrested in April 2020 by the NIA for his alleged role in fomenting violence in Maharashtra’s Bhima Koregaon village on January 1, 2018. The top court allowed him to be kept in house arrest for one month.