Mumbai, Jan 23 Two more accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case were granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Friday on the grounds of parity, noting that several other co-accused had already been granted similar relief.
A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and S C Chandak ordered release of Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, who have been in Navi Mumbai's Tajola jail since their arrest in September 2020, and directed them to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh each.
The two, alleged to be the activists of banned CPI (Maoist) group, have been asked to attend the National Investigation Agency (NIA)'s office once a month.
With this order, 14 of the 16 people arrested in the more than eight-year-old case have now been granted bail, leaving only one accused, Surendra Gadling, behind bars as his matter is pending before the Supreme Court.
Another accused, Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old priest and tribal rights activist, died while in custody in July 2021, awaiting trial.
The court noted that several other accused in the case have been granted bail on the grounds of long incarceration and the possibility of the trial in the case not commencing in the near future.
"Hence, on the ground of parity, the two appellants (Gorkhe and Gaichor), too, deserve to be released on bail," it said.
At least 16 people, including prominent lawyers, activists, and academics, were booked in connection with allegedly provocative speeches that were delivered at the 'Elgar Parishad' conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017.
According to the police, the speeches triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima, on the outskirts of Pune city, the next day.
The Pune police, which initially probed the case, claimed that Maoists had backed the conclave. The NIA later took over the probe into the case.
The other accused in the case include Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Jyoti Jagtao and Mahesh Raut.
