A Mumbai special court on Wednesday directed accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira to respond to the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) pleas seeking cancellation of their bail in the Bhima Koregaon case over alleged violations of bail conditions.

Special Judge Chakor S Baviskar granted time to the accused to file their replies.

The NIA moved the court alleging that Gonsalves and Ferreira attended a January 19 gathering at the Mumbai Press Club where other accused persons were present and this amounted to a violation of the conditions set by the bail order.

NIA had earlier initiated similar proceedings for cancellation of bail of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj and Telugu poet Varavara Rao on the same ground. That plea is also pending before the court.

Meanwhile, the judge on Wednesday also allowed NIA’s applications seeking issuance of proclamations against two absconding accused Prakash alias Naveen alias Ritupan Goswami and Ganapathy alias Mupalla Laxman Rao.

The case was adjourned to June 19, when the court will hear a batch of pending applications, including multiple discharge applications, pleas for modification of bail conditions, and requests relating to prison facilities, electronic evidence, and travel permissions.

The Bhima Koregaon case concerns allegations of Maoist links and a broader conspiracy behind the violence that occurred near Pune on January 1, 2018.

Sixteen persons were arrested in the case, nine initially by Pune Police in 2018 and seven later by the NIA after it took over the probe.​

Of the 16, Jesuit priest and activist Father Stan Swamy died in custody in 2021.

All the accused have secured bail from the Supreme Court and Bombay High Court. 

Charges in the case are yet to be framed and trial is yet to begin as discharge applications of the accused are being heard.