The Supreme Court on Monday extended the stay imposed by the Bombay High Court on the operation of its order granting bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and S V N Bhatti adjourned the matter till the first week of March.
“Taking into consideration the fact that the High Court has already granted stay, the same stands extended till the next date of hearing,” the bench said.
This is the second time when the apex court has extended the stay imposed by the high court. Earlier, it was extended on January 5.
The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against the bail granted to Navlakha.
The Bombay High Court had on December 19 last year granted bail to Navlakha but kept its order in abeyance for three weeks after the NIA, the federal anti-terror probe agency, sought time to appeal the order in the top court.
On November 10, 2022, the top court had allowed Navlakha, who was then lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison, to be placed under house arrest owing to his deteriorating health.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the NIA, had opposed the order of house arrest.
He is currently under house arrest in Navi Mumbai.
The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017 which police claim triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.
As many as 16 activists, accused of being associated with the proscribed CPI(Maoist), have been arrested in the case and five of them are currently out on bail.
