Elgar Parishad: NIA opposes Stan Swamy's bail plea

Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday opposed the bail plea filed by tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, and alleged he was involved in the conspiracy related to the 2017 episode and also Naxalite movement. The NIA, in an affidavit filed through special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty in response to Swamys bail plea in a special court, claimed it has sufficient evidence to prima facie prove that the accused was involved in the deep-rooted conspiracy and was directly involved in Naxalite movement.

The 83-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist was arrested on October 8 and is currently lodged in Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai. The NIA affidavit claimed a similar case has been filed against Swamy in the past in Jharkand, his home state. The central agency added that it was still probing the emails and other digital evidence gathered by it from Swamys computer and sought rejection of his bail plea.

The special NIA court will hear the bail application on December 21. The court will also hear other applications filed by Swamy seeking a direction to the NIA to return his bag, seized by the agency at the time of his arrest, and also a clone copy of his laptops hard disk.