NIA REQUESTS HC TO DISMISS PLEA OF VARAVARA RAO, TWO ACTIVISTS IN ELGAR CASE

MUMBAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday sought that the Bombay High Court dismiss a petition filed by poet Varavara Rao and two other activists, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, seeking a review of an earlier order of the HC that refused to grant them default bail.

The NIA in its affidavit said the accused were seeking the same prayer of default bail under the guise of review, and that it was an abuse of the process of law and sets a wrong precedent. The probe agency filed its affidavit in response to a review petition filed by the three activists – Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves challenging a previous order of the high court that refused to grant them default bail in the case. While Rao is currently out on medical bail, the other two activists are lodged in jail.

The NIA said through the petition, the accused are seeking to alter the observation made by the HC after verification of record and hearing of the case.

“Once the matter has been adjudicated and dismissed by this court, the applicants cannot come up with the same prayer under the guise of review,” the agency said. The three accused have challenged an order of December 1, 2021, passed by the bench led by justice Shinde that granted default bail to lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, a co-accused in the case, but denied default bail to some other accused persons. The NIA in its reply said section 362 of the CrPC puts an embargo on the court to alter or review a judgment passed by the HC on merits. However, in their pleas, filed through advocates Sudeep Pasbola and R Satyanarayanan, the accused said the HC’s order was based on a “factual error,” for it failed to note the lower court had rejected the default bail pleas filed by Bharadwaj, the three petitioners, and two other co-accused persons through a common order.