High Court seeks NIA reply on Elgar Parishad accused’s plea
The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond to a plea of activist-poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case out on bail, seeking to shift to his hometown Hyderabad, citing illness and rising expenses.
The 85-year-old was arrested in August 2018 and, in February 2021, was granted temporary bail by the high court. He was granted permanent bail by the Supreme Court in 2022.
One of the conditions in the bail order was that Rao cannot leave the jurisdiction of the special NIA court in Mumbai, which is hearing the case, without its permission. In April this year, Rao, through his advocate R Sathyanarayanan, filed a petition in the HC seeking permission to permanently shift to Hyderabad.
The petition said Rao’s continued stay in Mumbai has become difficult because of age, illness and rising expenses. The petition states that the activist-poet and his 76-year-old wife need the support of family members based in Hyderabad, where he owns a house and has access to relatives. A bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata on Friday issued notice to the NIA, the prosecuting agency in the case, and sought its response to the plea.
The HC posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks. The special court had earlier rejected a similar plea filed by the octogenarian.
At least 16 people, including prominent lawyers, activists, and academics, were booked in connection with allegedly provocative speeches that were delivered at the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. According to the local police, the speeches triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima, located on the outskirts of Pune city, the next day.
The Pune police, which initially probed the case, claimed that Maoists had backed the conclave. The NIA later took over the probe into the case.
Of the 16 accused, Jesuit priest and activist Father Stan Swamy died in custody in 2021. All the remaining 15 accused are out on bail.
