The Pune Sessions Court on today rejected bail plea of Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Sudha Bhardwaj, who were arrested in August for their alleged involvement in Elgaar Parishad and also in the Bhima Koregaon violence.
According to reports, the house arrest of all the three will be ending today. The Pune police can take them into custody and produce them in the court for additional interrogation. On Thursday, the Hyderabad High Court had extended house arrest of activist Varavara Rao by three weeks. The fifth accused, Gautam Navlakha was released from the house arrest by Delhi High Court on October 1.
Meanwhile, the defense lawyers representing the alleged ‘Urban Naxals’ have also moved a petition in the Pune court seeking an extension of house arrest for another 7 days for Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira, as their house arrest is ending today and Pune Police can now arrest them.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had declined an urgent hearing of a review petition filed by historian Romila Thapar in the case of the arrests of five ‘Urban Naxals’ for their alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence.
The Supreme court headed by the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on September 28 had refused to interfere with arrests of these five ‘Urban Naxals’ and had extended the interim house arrest of the activists. The apex court proceedings had ruled that ‘dissenting views expressed or difference in political ideology’ had nothing to do with the case.
The Pune Police had conducted raids and arrested the five accused at the end of August. The arrested persons were accused of links with Maoists networks. The arrests were in relation to the Bhima Koregaon violence. Earlier, the Pune police had arrested Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhavle in the case. The arrested persons in August raids had moved to the Supreme court and had obtained an order for house arrest instead of judicial custody.