The Bombay High Court on Friday sought the National Investigation Agency’s response to a petition by activist-poet Varavara Rao, who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, seeking permission to permanently relocate from Mumbai to Hyderabad, Live Law reported.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata directed the probe agency to file its reply within two weeks, when it will hear the matter.
Rao had approached the High Court after a special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai on March 16 dismissed his application to move to Hyderabad, Bar and Bench reported.
In his petition, he said that living in Mumbai had become difficult because of his age, health complications and increasing living expenses, according to the legal news outlet.
The 85-year-old told the court that he and his 76-year-old wife require the support of family members in Hyderabad, where he owns a house and has relatives.
Rao further said that his monthly expenses in Mumbai exceed Rs 77,000 while his pension is approximately Rs 50,000.
He was arrested in August 2018 from his Hyderabad residence and is out on medical bail granted to him by the Supreme Court in August 2022.
The bail conditions mandate the trial court’s permission to travel outside its jurisdiction.
In September, the Supreme Court declined to modify this bail condition.
On May 15, the NIA sought that the bail granted to Rao and activist Sudha Bharadwaj be cancelled, alleging that they violated the conditions of their release by attending a gathering at the Mumbai Press Club earlier this year.
The agency had submitted that the bail conditions for the activists barred them from contacting or communicating with other accused persons.
It claimed that the gathering was convened with the intention of “propagating the ideology of the proscribed organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist) and to deliberate upon the future course of action for spreading the ‘Urban Naxal’ movement…”
The case
The Bhima Koregaon case pertains to the violence that broke out near Pune on January 1, 2018, a day after a conclave called the Elgar Parishad was organised to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon. One person was killed in the violence and several others were injured.
The NIA has alleged that the Elgar Parishad was part of a larger Maoist conspiracy to stoke caste violence, destabilise the Union government and assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rao is among 16 activists, academicians and lawyers who have been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for their alleged role in instigating the violence.
Of the 16 accused persons, 14 have been released on bail. Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, who was also accused in the case, died in prison in 2021.
Another accused man, Surendra Gadling, got bail from the Bombay High Court on May 4. However, he remains in jail as his bail application in a 2016 arson case is pending before the Supreme Court.
The trial in the case is yet to begin.
When the Supreme Court last year granted bail to two persons accused in the case, it noted that the primary evidence cited by the National Investigation Agency – a batch of letters – was of “weak probative value or quality”. In addition, a digital forensics firm, Arsenal Consulting, has concluded that false evidence had been planted on the laptops and devices of the accused.
Edited by Sneha.
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