Mumbai:
More than four years after his arrest, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Friday granted interim bail to Sagar Gorkhe, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, to appear for his law degree exam. The 22-day temporary bail was granted on a PR (personal recognizance) bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of similar amount.
In case the accused is unable to arrange a surety, he is allowed to furnish cash bail of Rs 25,000, the court noted and imposed a set of conditions on him.
Gorkhe, a member of the Kabir Kala Manch, an alleged front organization of banned outfit CPI (Maoist), was arrested in September 2020 and is currently lodged at Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.
Special judge Chakor Bhaviskar granted temporary bail from December 14 to January 4 to Gorkhe to allow him to appear in the first semester examination of Bachelor of Laws (LLB).
As per Gorkhe’s plea, after clearing the pre-entrance exam, he had enrolled in three-year LLB programme at a college under the jurisdiction of a university headquartered in Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) in central Maharashtra.
Citing the “congested” and “stressful” condition in the prison, he had sought temporary relief not only to appear for the exam, but also “prepare for it without any distraction and stress”.
His plea mentioned that although the sanctioned strength of inmates in his barrack was 18, more than 40 prisoners are lodged there.
“Besides the congested nature of the barrack, the jail is not a conducive place to peacefully study and prepare for the exam,” the plea said.
The temporary bail was granted to the accused on a PR bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of similar amount. Such a bond allows releasing an accused from custody on a promise to appear as required by a court.
The court directed Gorkhe to furnish an active mobile cell phone number to jail authorities, the NIA and the prosecution as well.
“He shall keep that cell phone alive, so that, if required, he may be contacted and his whereabouts can be traced,” the judge observed.
The judge said the NIA, the probe agency in the case, may monitor and track the whereabouts of the accused on that given cell phone number for the period of temporary bail only.
Meanwhile, the court also granted permission to another accused, Mahesh Raut, to appear for viva-voice, Semester-I, entrance examination of LLB, first year.
Gorkhe, Raut and 13 other activists and academicians were booked in connection with allegedly provocative speeches that were delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017.
The speeches triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima, on Pune city’s outskirts, the next day, according to police.
As per the Pune police, which initially probed the case, the conclave was backed by Maoists. The NIA later took over the probe into the case.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
