Reasonable ground to believe Surendra Gadling a member of banned CPI (Maoist): Bombay High Court

Allegations that lawyer and activist Surendra Gadling had direct membership of the banned organisation, Communist Party of India (Maoist) seem to be prima facie true, the Bombay High Court observed on Tuesday [Surendra Gadling v. State of Maharashtra]. .A division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes made the observation while rejecting a bail plea moved by Gadling in the 2016 Surajgarh arson case.“On a consideration of the totality of the material on record ... there is reasonable ground for believing the accusations of the National Investigating Agency against the appellant (Gadling) having been part of a conspiracy and abetting the commission of terrorist acts, as also having direct membership of the banned organization Communist Party of India (Maoist) are prima facie to be true,” the Court stated in its judgment .The Court also observed that the seriousness of the allegations far outweighed the submissions made by Gadling for bail.“There is material on record of the charge-sheet would prima facie leads to the conclusion that the threat posed to the public and the seriousness of the entire conspiracy alleged against the Appellant would far out weigh the other considerations put forth by the Appellant, namely that he is a prominent Advocate with a long unblemished record at the bar, that he is the sole bread winner of his family or that he has not been involved in any earlier crime, would require to be rejected,” the Court said. .In its judgment, the bench referred to several letters stated to have been found on a hard disk seized from Gadling’s residence by the NIA. These letters, the Court said, “would leave no doubt that the appellant was connected with the banned organization CPI (Maoist).”“A reading of these letters clearly reveals that the Appellant was not just engaged as an Advocate of some of the members of the banned organization, but he was involved in raising finance and moving money from place to place and providing financial support to the cadre of the banned organization CPI (Maoist) in the area of Gadchiroli … The above quotations leave no doubt in ones mind that in if its contents are proved against the Appellant, it would demonstrate that the Appellant was indeed a member of the CPI (Maoist) organization,” the Court remarked..The bench added that it is conscious that all this material could be considered as evidence against Gadling only after it is proved as admissible evidence at a trial..All the same, it found no reason to overturn an earlier Sessions Court order rejecting Gadling's bail plea. Rather, the High Court found that the Sessions Judge had extensively considered the material on record and applied the principles laid down by the Supreme Court on the grant of bail under Section 43-D of the UAPA.Having done so, the Sessions Court had "correctly arrived at the conclusion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations made against the Appellant in the charge-sheet are true," the High Court found. .The case at hand dates back to December 2016, when around 39 vehicles engaged in transporting iron-ore from Surajgarh mines in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra were allegedly set on fire by Maoists.The Gadchiroli police registered an FIR under provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act. Gadling was arrested in the said case on January 30, 2019 on allegations that he was involved in a conspiracy and had abetted terrorist acts. Meanwhile, Gadling had already been placed under arrest by the Pune police in 2018 for his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon riots case. He applied for bail in the Surajgarh arson case before the Sessions Court at Gadchiroli in 2019. The Sessions Court, however, rejected his bail plea on March 28, 2022. This order has now been upheld by the High Court..[Read Judgment]