Elgar case: Navlakha, Teltumbde surrender

Rebecca Samervel | TNN | Apr 15, 2020, 04:58 IST

Gautam Navlakha (File photo)

MUMBAI: Human rights activist and scholar Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, was arrested on Tuesday by NIA after he surrendered at its Mumbai office. He was remanded in NIA custody by a special court till April 18.
Activist and co accused Gautam Navlakha surrendered before NIA in Delhi. He will be produced before a court on Wednesday. Their anticipatory bail pleas were rejected by the Supreme Court on March 16 and they were directed to surrender.
Accompanied by wife Rama and brother-in-law Prakash Ambedkar, Teltumbde, 70, arrived at the NIA office on Peddar Road at around 1.30pm. Rama and Ambedkar are the grandchildren of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, and the entourage came to the office from Rajgruha, Ambedkar’s house. A black flag was hoisted at the building before Teltumbde left on Tuesday, the 129th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Seeking 10-day custody of Teltumbde, special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty claimed that investigations had revealed that he had links with the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned terrorist organisation, and had received funds from its central committee.
The NIA also claimed that documentary evidence revealed that Teltumbde was the convenor of Elgar Parishad, an event that took place at Pune on December 31, 2017. The investigating agency alleged that the speeches made there led to the violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018. “It is revealed that there is conspiracy hatched by the accused who promoted enmity between the caste groups and led to violence resulting in the loss of life and statewide agitation,” the remand plea said.
The NIA added that Teltumbde’s call data records showed he was in contact with the arrested accused as well as present at the place of offence at the relevant period. Nine activists --- Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao --- were arrested in the case.
The NIA said it hadn’t got a chance to interrogate Teltumbde as he had procured various interim protection orders from the courts. It sought the court’s permission to use handcuffs on Teltumbde to help avoid physical contact with him amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a letter to the NIA, Teltumbde’s lawyer Maharukh Adenwala had requested against immediate arrest in light of the pandemic. His passport had been surrendered and he was willing to attend the NIA office when the need arose, it said, pointing out Teltumbde’s age and that he was a chronic bronchitis asthma patient and also suffered from cervical spondylitis. The letter sought a chair and bed for him while in custody to prevent his condition from aggravating.