Bhima Koregaon: Mumbai court rejects Gautam Navlakha bail plea after Bombay High Court directed re-hearing

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday rejected the regular bail plea of Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018..Special judge Rajesh Katariya passed the order today after re-hearing Navlakha’s bail plea, as directed by the Bombay High Court..Navlakha, who is human rights activist and former secretary of People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), was arrested in August 2018. On November 10 last year, the Supreme Court allowed his plea to be shifted back to house arrest for a month. This was extended on December 13. He is presently residing in Navi Mumbai city of Thane district..Navlakha moved the High Court after a special NIA court rejected his bail plea on September 5 last year. NIA opposed Navlakha’s bail plea by claiming that he had been introduced to a Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General for his recruitment, which shows his nexus with the organisation..The High Court opined that the reasoning in the order of the special court was cryptic and did not contain analysis of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution. In view of this, the Court ruled that the bail application requires fresh hearing by the special court, and remanded the case back to the court. It also directed the special judge to conclude the hearing within four weeks..Accordingly, Navlakha moved the special court for re-hearing his case for regular bail on March 15. After a hearing, the court reserved the plea for orders on March 30, 2023..[Read order]