Kin of the Bhima Koregaon accused have moved the Bombay High Court against an order permitting their transfer from the Taloja Central Jail.
Anand Teltumbde’s wife Rama, Surendra Gadling’s wife Minal, and Sudhir Dhawale’s colleague Sharad Gaikwad, have sought the order of transfer to be quashed and set aside.
The family alleges that on April 1, 2021, special National Investigation Agency Judge D.E. Kothalikar permitted the transfer of all the accused without hearing them. The petition states, “Kaustubh Kurlekar, former Superintendent of Taloja Central Jail harassed them and breached laws and prison manuals from time to time to make their stay as irksome as possible. He has deprived them of basic requirements, created impediment in supply of medicines and has acted prejudicially to their detriment and suffering.”
“The family contends that they have learnt about Mr Kurlekar obtaining administrative orders from the Inspector General of Police (Prisons) to have all the accused transferred from Taloja Central Prison to any prison in the State. The IG also seems to have granted administrative approval without following any procedure or ascertaining the truth in the allegations against the accused,” the petition contends.
The female accused — Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen and Jyoti Jagtap — are incarcerated at Byculla Jail. The male accused are at Taloja Central Jail — they are Mr. Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Mr. Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao (on temporary medical bail), Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Mr. Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor.
