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.
During Operation Kagar, 350 Naxalites have been killed so far, including some of the movement's top leaders.
The agency, in its affidavit filed in response to Navlakha's plea, also claimed that he had 'committed acts that had a direct impact on the national security, unity and sovereignty'.
Scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, is an 'active member' of the Communist Party of India-Maoist and 'deeply involved' in furtherance of the outfit's agenda, the National Investigatoin Agency (NIA) has told a special court in Mumbai.
Special Judge D E Kothalikar, assigned to hear cases of the NIA, had, on February 14, rejected the bail plea of Hany Babu, and the detailed order was made available on Monday.
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.
'Many of them are mutilated beyond recognition. Every day an encounter takes place.' 'Bastar has been burnt to ash.'
"Some are encouraging these Maoists to take up arms against the government," he alleged and asked the government to look into it.
In a statement, the non-governmental organisation underscored the challenges Saibaba faced during his incarceration and the toll it took on his health.
He also said the Naxals were spreading in urban areas and were trying to mislead the people.
A student activist and "independent journalist" from Kerala, Rejaz M. Sheeba Sydeek, has been arrested in Nagpur for allegedly "preparing to wage war against the Government of India." The arrest was made after Sydeek allegedly condemned Operation Sindoor, an Indian Armed Forces operation against terror targets in Pakistan, and criticized operations against Naxalites on his Instagram account. Police found a book about professor G N Saibaba, who faced trial for alleged links with Naxalism, and another about Marxism-Leninism in Sydeek's bag. An English letter seized from his possession appeared to criticize the Indian government for anti-Naxal operations and called for "peace talks between the Indian state and the (banned) CPI (Maoist)".
For Malegaon's Muslims, Rahul Gandhi's remarks were simply one more indication that the party they once supported no longer cares for them, notes Jyoti Punwani.
Seven persons were on Saturday arrested in connection with the attack in Khagaria which claimed the lives of 16 villagers. Sixteen people, including five teenagers belonging to backward classes, were dragged out of their camps and gunned down. The Maoists had carried out the attack with the intention of grabbing land belonging to the victims, Additional Director General Neelmani had said.
The bench also rejected the oral request of Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Maharashtra government for early listing of the appeal and said it will come in due course.
"It is wrong to link us with the Indian Maoist movement, he said. There is no involvement (of Nepalese Maoists) in the Indian Maoists' movement," the party's senior leader, Baburam Bhattarai, told media-persons.
Teltumbde is the third of the 16 accused arrested in the case to be released on bail.
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.
Investigators on Friday told a Delhi court that Mohammad Omar Madni, a suspected terrorist, has disclosed about the links between Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Maoists in Jharkhand.
Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba, who was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday after his acquittal in an alleged Maoist links case, said it's a 'wonder that he could come out alive' despite suffering the 'brutal' jail life.
Prima facie there was a nexus between human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, and Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, an agent of Pakistan's spy agency ISI convicted in the United States for terror funding, a special NIA court has said in its order denying bail to the campaigner.
Social activist Gautam Navlakha, accused of having links to Maoists and Pakistan's spy agency ISI, on Friday withdrew from the Supreme Court his application seeking to be shifted to Delhi from Mumbai under house arrest.
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 interrogation of top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy, who is currently in the custody of Delhi police's Special Cell, has confirmed Nepal's link to the Maoist movement. According to sources, the interrogation of Ghandy has revealed the close ties the Maoist leadership has developed with their powerful counterparts in Nepal. In his statement, Ghandy talks of four visits he made to Nepal along with some other Communist Party of India - Maoist leaders, between 2002 and 2006.
A bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal, which extended the protection from arrest to Gogoi till March 3, said it would hear the matter on Friday.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday set aside the life sentence of Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case, noting that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
Swamy, a Jesuit priest and activist, was arrested from Ranchi in October, 2020, and has since been lodged at the Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai.
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.
Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case accused and former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen was released from a prison in Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon, an official said.
According to the police, these villages have never seen unfurling or hoisting of the national flag since 1947, but that will change when its residents will join the rest of the country in celebrating Republic Day, which commemorates the day when the Constitution came into effect in 1950.
Gautam Navlakha, an accused in Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was released from Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai on Saturday evening and will live under house arrest for a month.
Saibaba is wheelchair-bound with 90 per cent physical disabilities.
The Bombay high court on Thursday granted bail to activist Mahesh Raut, arrested in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Bombay high court order acquitting former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in a Maoist links case and remanded it back to the high court for fresh consideration on merits within four months.
Poet-activist Varavara Rao, 81, is the only accused in the case to have secured an interim bail. The Bombay high court had in February this year granted Rao conditional bail for six months considering his medical condition. Rao had been in jail since his arrest in August 2018.
'The strategy of frontal organisations of the Maoists is to create unrest and ensure that such unrest leads to a law and order problem.' 'To cover such acts it was necessary to bring in a different definition of unlawful activities which is different from the definition of unlawful activities in the UAPA.'
Special judge DE Kothalikar, who rejected Swamy's bail plea on Monday, said in his order, which was made available on Tuesday, that based on the material on record it seemed Swamy was a member of banned Maoist organisation.
Teltumbde, the grandson-in-law of Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar, was produced before a special NIA court judge A T Wankehede after his remand ended on Saturday.
With the Communist Party of India-Marxist accusing the Trinamool Congress of having links with Maoists, its chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday dared the West Bengal government to arrest her if the charge is true.
The accused, a contractor by profession, was absconding since the murder of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar came to light on January 3, he said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances