HC asks Maharashtra police not to take away activist Gautam Navlakha from Delhi till morning

The Delhi High Court today directed that rights activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested by Maharashtra police for alleged Maoist links, should not be taken away from the national capital till it hears the matter tomorrow morning.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel said Navlakha will remain at his residence under police guard and be allowed to meet only his lawyers.

The court also said this will be the first matter to be considered by it tomorrow morning.

The high court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Navlakha by his advocate Warisha Farasat after he was picked up from his Delhi home this afternoon by the Maharashtra police in connection with the December 31 last year violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

A habeas corpus petition is a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure his or her release.

Left-wing activists, including Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj, were also arrested today as the Maharashtra police carried out searches at multiple places in several states, including Delhi, on the residences of people suspected to have Maoist links.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima village, triggered by an event called 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) held in Pune on December 31 last year.