Bhima Koregaon case: SC to hear bail plea of activist Gautam Navlakha on Monday

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the bail plea of activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case. A bench, comprising justices U U Lalit and K M Joseph, had on March 15 asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file its response on the bail plea of the activist, and decided to hear the same on March 22.

The apex court had taken note of the submission of Additional Solicitor General S V Raju that NIA be granted some more time to file its response to the plea. The activist had moved the top court on February 19 against the Bombay High Court order of February 8 dismissing his bail plea.

Navlakha has been seeking statutory bail under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on the ground that the NIA did not file the charge sheet within the stipulated 90-day period, making him entitled for grant of default bail. The high court, however, had held that the 34 days of Navlakha's house arrest cannot be computed as the time spent in jail for granting him statutory bail. It had said that it sees no reason to interfere with a special court's order which earlier rejected his bail plea.

According to police, some activists allegedly made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Elgar Parishad meet in Pune on December 31, 2017, which triggered violence at Koregaon Bhima in the district the next day.