SC rejcts NIA plea, orders Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha's house arrest within 24 hours

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the NIA's application and ordered social activist Gautam Navlakha to be put under house arrest within 24 hours after shifting him from Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the NIA's application seeking to vacate a previous order that had granted Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha house arrest. The top court further ordered Navlakha to be shifted from Taloja jail in Mumbai to his residence within the next 24 hours.

The bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy was informed by the agency that the premises in which the social activist was staying was the Communist Party's office, adding that there were several other institutions operating in the same building, in the process making monitoring difficult.

The agency, in its plea, had argued for the recall of an SC order from November 10 citing his alleged links to Maoists and Pakistan's ISI. Adding to this, it today disputed the nature of a medical report of the activist submitted by Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai, where the main doctor, Dr S Kothari, was Navlakha's brother-in-law.

The bench, however, refused to get into it, observing that the aspect was already heard in court. It also took up NIA's objection to house arrest.

"Despite an entire police force, you are unable to keep an eye on a 70-year-old person? You can not keep a man of 70 in confinement with all the might of the State? He is paying for it," Justice Roy questioned.

It ordered additional security measures to be implemented at Navlakha's place of confinement, including the sealing of a kitchen door that leads to an exit point, and installing CCTV cameras at both exits.