Supreme Court rejects NIA plea, Anand Teltumbde gets bail in Bhima Koregaon case

A Supreme Court bench comprised of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli, on Friday, November 25, refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court’s judgement, granting bail to Bhima Koregaon-accused Anand Teltumbde. The apex court was hearing a plea filed by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) against the Bombay court’s verdict. However, the Supreme Court judges added that the observation of the high court shall not be treated as conclusive final findings during the trial.

The Bombay High Court, while granting bail on November 18, had made a prima facie observation that there was no evidence against Teltumbde that he had been involved in terrorist activities. Teltumbde was arrested in April 2020, in connection with the Elgar Parishad violence and has been lodged in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai since then. Anand Teltumbde is the third accused in the case to be granted bail, after Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj. 

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing Teltumbde said during the Supreme Court hearing on Friday that, “Until and unless there is something perverse your lordships do not interfere with bail.” Sibal also said that his client was not even at the Elgar Parishad event and the NIA has not shown proof that he was, and added that the Bombay court had observed that there is no document to connect Teltumbde with terrorist activities. A division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Milind Jadhav granted the bail to Teltumbde based on a plea filed in 2021 challenging special NIA court order. The special court had rejected his bail application in July last year. Despite granting bail, the Boybay court stayed the bail order for a week to allow the NIA to submit its appeal in the Supreme Court.

The NIA has charged Teltumbde for being an active member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and deeply involved in "furtherance of its agenda". Strongly opposing the bail plea, NIA's special public prosecutor Sandesh Patil also accused Teltumbde of inspiring his brother, the late Moaist leader Milind Teltumbde, to participate in the movement and shared prohibited literature from international conferences with him.

Kapil Sibal said during the hearing that Teltumbde had been estranged from his brother and had not met him in 30 years. As Live Law reports, the senior advocate also added that NIA’s linking of his client to Milind was “based on hearsay evidence, which is given in a statement recorded under Section 161 CrPC, which is inadmissible in evidence.”

The SC bench, during the hearing, asked the NIA's counsel, what role was attributed to Teltumbde. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Live Law also reports, asked. “What is the specific role to bring UAPA sections into action?” Referring to the The IIT Madras event, at which the the NIA alleges Teltumbde engaged in Dalit mobilisation. “Is Dalit mobilisation preparatory act to proscribed activity?”

The NIA’s counsel replied that that is not what she meant and that though Teltumbde, as a professor, was free to give lectures. She also said that under UAPA, it is not necessary that the terrorist act be carried out and there is preparatory act carried out for proscribed organisation. 

She further added that the court should look at the larger canvas of how CPI(M) works. The NIA council said that they can show that he is connected to the organisation.

After hearing detailed arguments, the Supreme Court dismissed the NIA's plea.