Bhima Koregaon: NIA asks Gautam Navlakha to pay up ₹1.4 crore as security costs for house arrest

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday told the Supreme Court that activist Gautam Navlakha is yet to clear pending dues worth ₹1.4 crore as security costs for his house arrest [National Investigation Agency vs Gautam P Navlakha and anr]..Navlakha's counsel, Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishna and advocate Shadan Farasat, objected to the NIA's claims and said that such a quote was inflated and a means of 'extortion.'A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti then proceeded to adjourn the activist's bail and house arrest hearings.The matter will be taken up next in April. .The Bombay High Court had granted bail to Gautam Navlakha, on December 19, 2023, in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case. The activist is currently under house arrest. Though Navlakha was lodged in prison initially, he was later shifted to his house and placed under house arrest in November 2022 after the Supreme Court allowed a plea by the activist to be shifted out of jail considering his advanced age.He has since been under house arrest in Navi Mumbai city of Thane district.Subsequently, he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in December last year.Navlakha, who is a human rights activist and the former secretary of the People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), was arrested in August 2018.Navlakha moved the High Court for bail after a special NIA court rejected his bail plea on September 5 last year.The High Court initially ruled that the bail application required a fresh hearing by the special court, and remanded the case back to the court.The special NIA court then rejected Navlakha’s plea after re-hearing the same.On appeal, the High Court allowed the plea last December. It opined that Navlakha was entitled to have parity with other accused Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira and Mahesh Raut, who were granted bail. It also noted that the possibility of concluding the trial soon was bleak.This led to the instant appeal by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) before the apex court.The activist's plea concerning the terms of his house arrest is being heard along with the bail matter.