The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.
Top Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde was among the 26 Maoists killed in an encounter with police in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, a senior police official said on Sunday.
The Koregaon-Bhima Inquiry Commission, probing the January 2018 violence near a memorial in Maharashtra's Pune district, has told the state government that it is suspending all scheduled hearings till the government does not provide it a "suitable accommodation" in Mumbai to conduct the probe into the case.
A court in Mumbai on Thursday once again sought a reply from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 83-year-old tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy's request that he be provided a straw and sipper in jail.
Rao's lawyer Indira Jaising claimed that his health was 'fast deteriorating', and there was a legitimate apprehension that he might die in prison. Rao suffers from dementia, is confined to bed in the prison hospital since August and needs to wear diapers, the lawyer said.
The Income Tax department on Friday conducted separate 'survey operations' at the premises of online news portals Newsclick and Newslaundry in New Delhi, officials said.
Swamy, who is suffering from various health ailments including Parkinson's disease, was arrested on October 8 by the NIA.
Hemalatha, wife of Telugu poet Varavara Rao who was arrested for alleged links with Maoists, said he was arrested several times earlier also and no case has been established against him... "He wants to spread his ideology through the pen (writings), not the gun."
The FIR against him was re-registered in January 2020, and Navlakha had surrendered before the NIA on April 14, last year. According to the prosecution, 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.
The church authorities said Swamy's body will be cremated in Mumbai after completing certain formalities and his ashes will be taken to Ranchi and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, the state where he was based.
According to a media report published on Saturday, only one of the outfits to which eight of the arrested activists belonged was declared as unlawful.
Maharashtra Police had on August 28 raided the homes of the prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for their alleged Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outrage from human rights defenders.
Navlakha, Teltumbde and several other activists have been booked by the Pune Police for their alleged Maoist links and several other charges following the violence at Koregaon Bhima village in Pune district on January 1, 2018.
"The painful wait that Swamy will have to endure for a sipper cannot be tolerated any longer. December 4, when the very same court decides again, is seven days away. Stan cannot be refused fluids for such a long period. The NPRD and its affiliating units have therefore decided to send sippers to the jailor of Taloja Jail, Maharashtra, to be given to Stan Swamy," the NPRD said in a statement.
'We urge you to take remedial measures to address this blatant injustice pending withdrawal of the case against them,' the MPs write.
The cost of such treatment is to be borne by Waze and his family, the court said.
The bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, told the Maharashtra government to make its police officials "more responsible" on matters pending before the court.
The Pune Police had moved the court Saturday for extension of the 90-day period for filing chargesheet against the five persons, citing fresh arrests in the case.
The case was being probed by the Pune Police.
The 84-year-old priest-activist Stan Swamy, arrested under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Elgar Parishad case, died at a Mumbai hospital Monday in the middle of his fight for bail on health grounds.
The National Investigation Agency on Friday told the Bombay high court that the health condition of poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case who is currently on an interim medical bail granted in February this year, was stable and hence must surrender before the prison authorities.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Navlakha seeking that he be shifted from custody in the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai to judicial custody in the form of house arrest owing to his advanced age and the host of ailments that he suffers from.
'We want the Commission to finish its work; the issue it is investigating is too crucial for its work to be left incomplete.'
Testimony presented before the Bhima Korgaon Commission over the last two months reveals the background to the violence that broke out on January 1, 2018.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party's attempt to form a government with his nephew and Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar had one benefit, as it ended President's rule in Maharashtra in 2019.
The law permits a person to approach the police or a magistrate to lodge a complaint and get their grievances addressed, the court noted.
Maharashtra police on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links. Near simultaneous searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi. Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj and Farreira were arrested. Although Navalakha was also arrested, the Delhi high court ordered police not to take him out of the national capital at least until Wednesday. According to unconfirmed reports, others whose residences were raided are Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula, Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi and Anand Teltumbde in Goa. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year. Here are their brief profiles:
Will the latest development see a marked break from the way the case has been going?
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear Bhima Koregaon case accused P Varavara Rao's plea for permanent medical bail on July 19 and extended his interim protection till further orders.
The Bombay high court on Friday directed the National Investigation Agency to get poet-activist Varavara Rao medically examined at the Nanavati hospital in north west Mumbai to check if he suffered from any ailments that warranted extension of his medical bail.
The ministry of external affairs said India remains committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all its citizens and that the country's democratic polity is complemented by an independent judiciary and a range of national and state-level human rights commissions.
"How can the police do this? The matter is sub judice. The Supreme Court is seized of the matter. In such cases, revealing information pertaining to the case is wrong," Justice Bhatkar said.
On January 1 in 2018, violence erupted at an event to mark 100 years of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, leaving one dead and several injured, including 10 policemen.
Pune police on Tuesday raided homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.
Minal Gadling, in her petition, claimed that all the arrested five, including her husband, have been in a false and mala fide way implicated in the case even when there was no involvement on their part in any such activity.
The 83-year-old, who has challenged the Bombay high court's April 13 order rejecting his plea for permanent bail on medical grounds, is currently on interim bail on medical grounds and he was to surrender on July 12.
Khalid said that he was informed by Mevani about the threats, and he has not received any call himself till now.
'Why he wasn't released, and why he had to die in custody?'
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the NIA's application and ordered social activist Gautam Navlakha to be put under house arrest within 24-hours after shifting him from Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.
The HC directed the government to file a "complete report detailing the type of medical exam conducted through video conferencing, and all other findings".
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