Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced that his party, the NCP, is in discussions with the Shiv Sena regarding seat sharing for the upcoming Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic polls. This comes as alliances blur in the state-level elections.
While the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a stay on the operation of the bail order so as to appeal before the Supreme Court, the HC refused the request, stating that Babu has been in jail for over five years.
Last month, ink was thrown at Patil during an event in Pimpri town of Pune district in an apparent protest against his controversial remark about Dr B R Ambedkar and social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.
Minister Jayant Patil said the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP government favoured granting relief to those who were falsely implicated.
The term "urban Naxal" was used by the Pune Police probing the alleged links between the Elgar Parishad conclave of December 31, 2017 and the caste clashes around Koregaon Bhima in Pune district the next day.
The panel had earlier summoned Pawar in 2020, but he could not appear before it due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Later, another summons was issued to Pawar for appearing before the commission on February 23 and 24 this year, but the senior politician had sought a fresh date, saying he wanted to file an additional affidavit before recording his testimony.
The case was being probed by the Pune Police.
Munde, whose party is a key ally in the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, has made the demand in a letter written to Thackeray on Monday.
On Wednesday, the police submitted its report before the commission.
Pawar filed an additional affidavit before the probe panel on April 11, a copy of which was made available on Thursday.
Apart from Sharad Pawar, the commission will also record the evidence of the then superintendent of police (Pune Rural) Suvez Haq, then additional SP, Sandip Pakhale and the then additional commissioner, Pune, Ravindra Sengaonkar, between February 21 and February 25.
The last hearing was conducted on November 15, 2021.
Supreme Court Justice M M Sundresh recused himself from hearing the bail plea of advocate Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. The case has been adjourned multiple times.
"Pawar said April 4 in the afternoon will be convenient for him as Parliament session would be over by then. Accordingly, the Commission has summoned him on April 4," Malik told reporters at the state secretariat in Mumbai.
The accused were initially placed under house arrest in August last year by the Pune Police in Maharashtra and were later taken into custody on October 26, after a sessions court in Pune rejected their bail pleas.
Thackeray also said he won't block NPR but will not allow NRC in Maharashtra. He assured that he will 'personally check the columns' in the NPR, adding there shouldn't be any problem with the exercise in Maharashtra.
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 court asked the Maharashtra police to file their case diary pertaining to the ongoing investigation in the case by September 24.
The court was hearing the plea filed against the arrest of the rights activists -- Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha -- in the case.
The Delhi high said that the trial court order was unsustainable in law.
The prosecution, while opposing the bail applications, had argued that they have "corrborative evidence" against the accused to prove their involvement in Maoist activities, such as mobilising cadres, recruiting students from eminent institutes and sending them to the interior to become "professional revolutionaries", raise funds and procure weapons.
The bench suggested that the hearing be adjourned "sine die" (adjournment of proceedings with no date of resumption).
Researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, were released on bail from a Navi Mumbai prison on Friday, more than six years after they were arrested. The duo walked out of the Taloja jail after completing bail formalities before the special NIA court, over a fortnight after they were granted bail by the Bombay High Court. The HC granted bail to Wilson and Dhawale on January 8, noting they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial in the case, in which anti-terror act UAPA has been invoked, was yet to start. Apart from Dhawale and Wilson, 14 other activists and academicians were arrested in the case. Eight of them have been granted bail till now, with one, Mahesh Raut, still in jail as the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against his bail is pending before the Supreme Court. Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, one of the accused, died in 2021 while lodged in judicial custody. The case pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima, a village outside Pune city, the next day. The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists. The NIA later took over the probe.
The apex court also rejected the plea to appoint a Special Investigation Team for probe.
The Bombay High Court has granted bail to researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. The court noted that they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial was yet to start. The court said the two had spent more than six years in jail as under-trial prisoners. The NIA, the prosecution agency, did not seek a stay to the HC order. Eight other activists have been granted bail in the case, which pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017.
Prolonged incarceration without trial amounts to infringement of the right to life under the Constitution, the Bombay high court said while urging a special court to expedite the trial in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
The case pertains to the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which according to the Pune police was funded by Maoists.
In the past too, Bhide has drawn flak for his controversial comments.
Pawar recorded his testimony before the commission in Mumbai in connection with the January 2018 violence at the Koregaon Bhima war memorial in Pune district of Maharashtra.
A senior police official, however, said Monday the charges against the 85-year-old in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case have not been dropped.
Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, contested the figure of Rs 1.64 crore saying the agency's calculation of the amount payable was wrong and contrary to the relevant rules.
The Bombay high court on Thursday granted bail to activist Mahesh Raut, arrested in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case.
Singh was Additional Director General (Law and Order) during the relevant period so it was necessary to summon him to "bring forward true and correct facts, intelligence inputs as well as the information received by him," said commission's lawyer Ashish Satpute.
This is Navlakha's second round of appeal in the high court seeking regular bail.
Activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, are likely to walk out of jail only next week after securing bail from the Supreme Court on Friday as certain formalities are to be completed before they are released, defence lawyers said in Mumbai.
A special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai has allowed activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to have a telephonic conversation with his mother for five minutes in the wake of the death of his brother Milind Teltumbde, a top Naxal leader, in an encounter with security forces last week.
The Bombay high court on Friday granted temporary bail of four days to former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to undergo cataract surgery and a medical check-up at a city-based hospital.
In a relief to academic-activist Shoma Kanti Sen, arrested in June 2018 in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, the Supreme Court on Friday granted her bail while taking cognisance of the "composite effect" of the delay in framing charges coupled with her prolonged detention.
'He was the best court craftsman that I have ever seen who could modulate his arguments in accordance with the judge and the mood.'