Gautam Navlakha, a suspect in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been denied bail by a Mumbai court which also declared that he was a member of the outlawed terrorist organization Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The group was responsible for attacking and killing numerous government security forces. In an order, Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge Rajesh Katariya stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the allegations against Navlakha were true on the face of it.
“The supplementary chargesheet and documents relied by the prosecution prima facie shows that applicant is active member of said banned terrorist organization and he carries out activities in furtherance of object of said organization. Various documents are seized from applicant during his house search through electronic gazettes. The documents produced with chargesheet shows active involvement of applicant in crime and participation in conspiracy…It also shows that he underwent weapon training with other accused,” the order said.
The sessions court also considered the fact that the chargesheet demonstrated a connection between Navlakha, the Kashmiri separatist Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General of Pakistan.
“Considering totality of material, Navlakha’s role cannot be segregated from role of the co-accused in the case and there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against Navlakha are prima facie true,” the judge said.
Gautam Navlakha, a former secretary of People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) and a human rights activist, was arrested in August 2018.
In November 2020, the Supreme Court granted him a one-month house arrest sentence, which was later extended on December 13. Navlakha currently resides in Navi Mumbai’s Thane district.
After his bail application was rejected by a special NIA court on September 5, 2017, he filed a petition with the High Court. The High Court ordered the special court to reconsider the bail application and referred the case back to it.
